Design of Circular Porous Organic Polymers and Application in CO2 Capture and Valorization

Research question

Can we design porous organic polymers for circularity without negatively influencing their stability and properties? The introduction of porosity in polymers requires a judicious choice of rigidity of the repeating units, combined with bulky groups that promote inefficient packing of the polymer chains, not necessarily aligning with the requisites for polymer circularity. We propose to access cPOPs via reversible ring-opening polymerization (ROP) as a novel strategy to achieve facile polymerization/depolymerization while maintaining the required properties and performance of the materials intact.

Sustainability aspects

This proposal revolves around the design of a new family of circular porous polymers engineered for facile depolymerization into their constituent monomers. Furthermore, we will leverage starting materials from renewable sources. Finally, we envision the application of the materials spanning environmentally relevant fields.