Porous network polymers based upon diamondoid structures with polyaromatic struts provide a robust, high-surface area platform wherein chemical functionalization can enable the selective capture of toxic or high-value ions from a variety of water sources. Efficient methods have been developed for the synthesis of variants of these materials in which biphenyl or terphenyl struts are functionalized with a range of substituents, including ammonium chloride, carboxylic acid, sulfonic acid, phosphonic acid, ether, thioether, thiol, and polyalcohol groups. With judicious design, such materials can exhibit the rapid, selective, and high-capacity removal of a wide range of target species—including B(OH)3, Fe3+, Cu2+, Hg2+, CrO42–, AsO43–, platinum group metals, and lanthanide ions—from complex water sources. Further, nanoparticles of these materials can be embedded within ion exchange polymers, enabling their use in ion-capture electrodialysis, an efficient, one-step separation strategy. This process employs electrodialysis configurations with adsorptive membranes to simultaneously desalinate a water source while capturing target solutes with negligible capture of competing ions.

Porous network polymers and membranes for targeted ion removal from water

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