Nitrogen-rich nonporous covalent organic polymers for highly efficient and reversible iodine capture

Radioactive iodine is a high proportion of the fission product of nuclear power, and it is crucial to fabricate materials for capturing iodine from both vapor and solution media. The large-scale synthesis of materials in low-temperature deoxidation and high-temperature with long-time environments presented significant challenges. The Chichibabin pyridine coupling reaction was employed to design and synthesize a nonporous piperazine-linked COP (PIPCOP) under atmospheric pressure within a short reaction time of only 2 hours. The PIPCOP material had a comparatively low BET surface area measurement of 4.28 m2 g-1 with an exceptionally low pore volume of 0.0083 cm3 g-1. However, it had a high ability to accept iodine vapor and iodine in hexane, with a capacity of 5.18 g g-1 and 1.95 g g-1, respectively. A novel proposal is presented in this study for the synthesis of functional nonporous polymers with enhanced iodine absorption capacity, aiming to address environmental concerns.