Functional Porous Organic Polymers as Advanced Decontamination Materials for Water Purification

最近，在飓风Hermine期间，2000万加仑未经处理的废水被排放到佛罗里达州的坦帕湾，2.15亿加仑轻度放射性水通过一个天坑口进入佛罗里达含水层。在佛罗里达州，这些事件引起了当地居民和州政府官员的极大关注，全国各地也发生了类似的事件。随着大量新材料的出现，也许是时候检查我们处理水的方式和我们处理浪涌条件的能力了。该项目旨在开发和部署一种新型多孔有机聚合物，这种聚合物具有高容量和选择性，可以快速去除重金属污染物，远低于环境保护署设定的百万分之一标准。该项目将设计多孔有机聚合物的孔隙度和表面化学特性，以清除地表水和废水中的无机重金属污染物。多孔有机聚合物是坚固的，化学和热稳定的，可扩展的，模块化的，具有非常高的表面积。这些聚合物的模块化允许在分子水平上调整孔结构和表面化学，从而允许针对重金属污染物的结合位点的工程化位点特异性。最近的数据显示，与基准材料相比，这些新材料的容量显著增加，可以快速去除汞和其他重金属离子。该项目将通过定制具有不同结合基团的单体，探索具有不同拓扑结构的多孔聚合物的合理设计，从而推进这一概念。该项目的目标包括设计、合成和表征，随后对这些材料进行评估，以去除水中的无机污染物，第三，开发具有多个识别位点的材料，以去除复杂的无机污染物。这项工作将影响污水处理，包括市政用水，以及核能、水力压裂和采矿业。pi将继续在他们的实验室指导代表性不足的群体，并为第一代大学生提供一个关于材料、能源和环境的暑期讲习班和网页。

1706025 MaRecently, 20 million gallons of untreated wastewater were released into Florida's Tampa Bay during Hurricane Hermine, and 215 million gallons of slightly radioactive water entered the Floridian Aquifer through a sinkhole opening. In Florida, these events have caused considerable concern from local residents and state officials, as have similar events across the country. With the advent of a multitude of new materials, it may be time to examine the ways in which our water is treated and our ability to treat surge conditions. This project seeks to develop and deploy a new class of porous organic polymers which have high capacity and selectivity to rapidly remove heavy metal contaminants well below parts per million level standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency.The project will engineer porosity and surface chemistry of porous organic polymers to clean inorganic heavy metal contaminants from both surface water and wastewater. Porous organic polymers are robust, chemically and thermally stable, scalable, and modular, with very high surface area. The modularity of these polymers allows for a molecular-level tuning of the pore structure and surface chemistry that allows for engineered site-specificity of binding sites that target the heavy metal contaminants. Recent data shows these new materials offer a significant increase in capacity relative to benchmark materials, with a rapid removal of mercury and other heavy metal ions. This project will advance the concept by exploring rational design of these porous polymers with different topologies by customizing the monomer with various binding groups. The objectives of the project include design, synthesis, and characterization, followed by assessment of these materials to remove inorganic contaminants from water, and thirdly, development of materials with multiple recognition sites for removal of complex inorganic contaminants. The work will impact wastewater treatment, including municipal water, as well as the nuclear, fracking, and mining industries. The PIs will continue to mentor underrepresented groups in their laboratory and present a summer workshop and a web page regarding materials, energy, and the environment for first-generation college students.