Microporous Organic Polymers for Carbon Dioxide Capture

Microporous organic polymers (MOPs) are a unique class of porous materials consisting solely of the light elements (C, H, O, N, etc.). A series of vivid characteristics of MOPs, such as high-specific surface area, good physicochemical stability, diverse pore dimensions, topologies, and chemical functionalities, make them suitable adsorbents for CO2 capture. In this chapter, MOPs are categorized into four classes according to the types of organic reactions and the chemical structures of the resulting materials: hypercrosslinked polymers (HCPs), covalent organic frameworks (COFs), polymers of intrinsic microporosity (PIMs), and conjugated microporous polymers (CMPs). For each type of the polymer network, the state-of-the-art development in the design, synthesis, characterization, and the CO2 sorption performance is reviewed. Strategies for controlling CO2 uptake capacity and adsorption enthalpy via manipulation of surface area, pore size, and functionality are discussed in detail. These studies would open up many new possibilities for the development of the novel solid sorbents targeting the CO2 capture process. It is expected that this chapter will not only summarize the main research activities in this field, but also find possible links between basic studies and practical applications.