The use of conjugated microporous
polymers (CMPs) in practical
wastewater treatment demands further design on the pore structure,
otherwise their adsorption capacities toward heavy-metal ions were
moderate. Here, we report a rational design approach, which produces
hybrid molecular pores in conjugated microporous poly(aniline)s (CMPAs)
for mercury removal. It is achieved through a delicate interval introduction
of linkers with differential molecular lengths during polymerization,
acquiring both diffusion channels and storage pores for radical enhancement
of mass transfer and adsorption storage. The resulting CMPA-M featured
a large adsorption capacity of 975 mg g–1 and rapid
kinetics that could remove 94.8% of 50 mg g–1 of
mercury(II) within a very short contact time of 48 s, with a promising
initial adsorption rate h as high as 113 mg g–1 min–1, which was 2.54-fold larger
in the adsorption capacity and 45.2-fold faster in the adsorption
efficiency compared with the undeveloped CMPAs. More importantly,
our CMPA-M-2, with robust stability and easy reusability, was able
to scavenge over 99.9% of mercury(II) from the actual wastewater in
a harsh condition with a very low pH of 0.77, extremely high salinity
of 53,157 mg L–1, and complex impurities, featuring
exceptional selectivity that allows us to extract and recycle a high
purity of 99.1% of mercury from the wastewater. These outcomes demonstrate
the unprecedented potential of CMPs for environmental remediation
and real-world mercury extraction and present benchmarks for CMP-based
mercury adsorbents.
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