Synthesis and application of porous organic polymers for removal of pollutants from wastewater

Abstract

Organic dyes and heavy metals, as waste products from industries such as: textile, leather,
paper, pharmaceutical and food, can cause significant damage to the environment and
human health through water pollution. Many developing countries rely on the textile
industry for income and have little ability to combat those responsible for releasing toxic
chemicals into the environment. Thus, there is a great need for a sustainable and economic
solution for capturing water-based pollutants.
Adsorption has been shown to be an effective way of removing water-based contaminants
due to the re-usability, high removal efficiency and low cost of adsorbents. Porous organic
polymers (POPs) are a class of materials that typically possess high surface areas, chemical
and thermal stability. The structures of POPs can be fine-tuned, which is why they have
been so popular in a wide range of applications including water treatment, CO2 capture and
conversion, hydrogen storage and catalysis. Triazine-based POPs have been investigated and
found to have favorable properties for the adsorption of water-based contaminants as the
abundance of nitrogen atoms inherent in their structure can act as binding sites for target
pollutants.
In this work triazine-based POPs have been synthesized and applied to the adsorption of
organic dyes and heavy metals. Two synthetic routes have been explored using BuchwaldHartwig cross-coupling and condensation polymerization reactions to yield porous materials
with a high nitrogen content. Polymers were synthesized using different triazine cores and a
comparison between the triazine-based POPs was made. An investigation into the
hydrophilicity of the materials was undertaken to ensure effective interactions with the
water-based pollutants were possible. Adsorption studies using a range of organic dyes and
heavy metals were conducted and the adsorption mechanisms were deduced. The results of
this work are promising for the adsorption of water-based pollutants produced by the
textile industry.

Date of Award	23 Jan 2024
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Bristol
Supervisor	Anthony P Davis (Supervisor) & Charl F J Faul (Supervisor)