Synthesis of porous organic materials and their applications in adsorption and energy

Abstract

Rapid global population growth over the last century has triggered water and energy crises, threatening human development and survival. Investigating new materials for specific tasks is crucial for achieving sustainable social and economic progress. Porous materials possess numerous intriguing inherent characteristics including extensive surface area, adaptable architecture, and versatile synthetic capabilities. These properties make them highly attractive for applications like water purification and energy storage. It is of great significance to design porous materials for water purification to achieve the criteria of high adsorption capacity, fast kinetics, high stability, high recyclability, and high selectivity. Lithium metal battery is the most favorable option for the next generation of energy storage devices. Designing solid-state electrolytes using porous materials is the most effective solution to solve the safety concerns of lithium metal battery. In this thesis, we focus on the design and synthesis of metal-organic framework (MOFs) for water purification, and porous organic solid electrolytes for lithium metal battery. The research includes three chapters: (1) thiol-functionalized UiO-66 for efficient Fe³⁺ removal from water, (2) triptycene-based imidazolate porous polymers as solid electrolytes, and (3) highly conductive imidazolate covalent organic frameworks with ether chains for solid electrolytes. All the materials show superior performance towards corresponding applications. It is worth noting that in Chapter 2, water-stable UiO-66-S is easily synthesized, and shows high adsorption capacity, fast kinetic, high stability, high recyclability, and high selectivity for Fe³⁺ removal. In Chapter 3, triptycene-based ionic porous organic polymers is presented to construct solid electrolyte in a balanced way, i.e., high Li⁺ conductivity, high Li⁺ transference number, low activation energy, and stabilized with Li anode. In Chapter 4, Debus–Radziszewski multicomponent reactions is used to synthesize imidazolate covalent organic frameworks with methoxyethoxy chains installed. The synergistic effect between methoxyethoxy chains and imidazolates witness its excellent Li⁺ conduction performance.

Date of Award	2024
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Supervisor	Yoonseob KIM (Supervisor)