Urban mining of precious metals from electronic waste, an emerging issue of great concern, is not yet feasible because of its lengthy process, health risks and environmental impact. We recently developed a nanoporous porphyrin polymer that captures precious metals quantitatively even in the presence of over 60 metals from the periodic table. The nanoporous polymer is synthesized in two steps from widely available monomers and can be scaled up without loss of activity. Through a reductive capture mechanism, gold is particularly recovered with ten times the theoretical limit, reaching to a record 1,637 g/g. With 99% uptake taking place in the first 30 minutes, the porous polymer can be rapidly desorbed and reused for repetitive batches. We also demonstrated that gold can be readily recovered from actual printed circuit boards.

Gold recovery from electronic waste by nanoporous polymers

2019 Spring National Meeting

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