SYNTHESIS OF POROUS ORGANIC POLYMERS AND THEIR APPLICATIONS
Date: October 01, 2026 Time: 09:30 AM Location: SBASSE Dean's Smart Lab
Speaker: Prof. Dr. Bien Tan (Dean, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Huazhong University of Science & Technology (HUST), Wuhan, China)
Porous organic polymers (POPs), featuring low skeletal density, high thermal and chemical stability, and diverse synthetic routes, have emerged as a versatile class of materials for energy and environmental applications. This talk will present our group's recent progress in the design and synthesis of two major families of POPs - hypercrosslinked polymers (HCPs) and covalent triazine frameworks (CTFs). We will first discuss innovative synthesis strategies, including the external cross-linker knitting method and the solvent-knitting approach for HCPs (achieving BET surface areas up to 3002 m² g⁻¹), as well as controlled polycondensation and slow-feeding methods for preparing crystalline 2D CTFs. We will then highlight their applications in three key areas: (1) photocatalytic hydrogen evolution (HER) and oxygen evolution (OER), where crystalline CTFs and donor-acceptor structured CTFs achieve HER rates up to 19.3 mmol g⁻¹ h⁻¹, and free-standing CTF films reach 77.8 mmol h⁻¹ g⁻¹; (2) CO₂ capture and photocatalytic conversion, including 3D CTFs with CO₂ uptake of 23–25 wt% and HCP-based composites for selective CO₂ photoreduction; and (3) methane storage, where flexible HCPs deliver ultrahigh volumetric working capacities of 291 cm³(STP) cm⁻³. The industrial scalability of these materials and prospects for China-Pakistan collaboration under CPEC will also be discussed.
01
Oct
Date: October 01, 2026
Time: 09:30 AM
Location: SBASSE Dean's Smart Lab
Speaker: Prof. Dr. Bien Tan (Dean, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Huazhong University of Science & Technology (HUST), Wuhan, China)