Nanofibrous Membranes from Catalytic Arene–Norbornene Annulation (CANAL)-Based Polymers for Scavenging Organic Micropollutants

Water scarcity continues to be a major challenge, and water pollution is continuously increasing due to population and industrial growth. Thus, quick solutions must be proposed for a clean water supply. In this study, rational design and computational tools were used to predict the binding affinities between 61 organic micropollutants (OMPs) and an emerging class of catalytic arene–norbornene annulation-based polyimides (CANAL-PIs) formulated into electrospun nanofibrous membrane adsorbents. Three intrinsically microporous CANAL-PIs were synthesized with a Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface area of 205–500 m2 g–1. The adsorption capacity was directly associated with the surface area of the nanofibers and the binding energy of OMPs. Roxithromycin displayed the highest adsorption capacity of 118 mg g–1, whereas urea showed the lowest adsorption capacity of 16 mg g–1. CANAL-PI-based electrospun nanofibrous membranes showed stable performance and excellent flexibility, robustness, and reusability over 10 adsorption–desorption cycles, indicating their great potential for environmental remediation.