Triphenylamine-based conjugated microporous polymers as dye adsorbents and supercapacitors

Background: Conjugated microporous polymers CMPs have unique position among porous materials thus they are studied widely. Realistically, triphenylamine (TPA) derivatives generally possess high aromaticity, redox capabilities, high charge motilities, and outstanding electronic features, therefore designing CMPs based on TPA derivatives could result in fantastic properties. Methods: We performed one-pot coupling and polycondensation of a boronated triphenylamine derivative (TPA-3Bor) with bromobenzene (Bz-4Br) and bromopyrene (Py-4Br) derivatives to obtain two new TPA-based conjugated microporous polymers (TPA-Bz and TPA-Py CMPs, respectively). The successful synthesis of two TPA CMPs and their features were examined via Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and ¹³C solid state NMR spectroscopies. Significant Findings: These two CMPs displayed attractive adsorptive properties toward the small dye molecule rhodamine B (RhB) from an aqueous solution. Outstanding adsorption performance, rapid kinetics, and good reusability suggest that our CMPs could function as effective adsorbents for RhB and, perhaps, other pollutants from wastewater. Moreover, our TPA-based CMPs displayed effective and stable performance when introduced as electrodes for supercapacitors, with capacitances as high as 78 F g^–1 at a current density of 1 A g^–1 as well as high stability. This study emphasizes the importance of conjugation and planarity in the future design of such materials.