Conjugated macro–microporous polymer films bearing tetraphenylethylenes for the enhanced sensing of nitrotoluenes

• Published in: Journal of materials chemistry. A, Materials for energy and sustainability Vol. 6; no. 36; pp. 17312 - 17317
• Main Authors: Kang, Chang Wan, Lee, Doo Hun, Shin, Young Jun, Choi, Jaewon, Ko, Yoon-Joo, Lee, Sang Moon, Kim, Hae Jin, Ko, Kyoung Chul, Son, Seung Uk
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge Royal Society of Chemistry 2018
• Subjects: Aggregation behavior; Detection; Emissions; Macroporosity; Nitrogen dioxide; Perchlorate; Perchloric acid; Polymer films; Polymers; Porphyrins; Quenching; Scanning electron microscopy; Silica; Silicon dioxide; Substrates
• ISSN: 2050-7488; 2050-7496
• DOI: 10.1039/C8TA06744A

Conjugated microporous polymer films (CMP-Fs) bearing tetraphenylethylene moieties showed aggregation-induced emission behavior, which can be utilized for the emission quenching-based sensing of nitrotoluenes. In this work, macroporous CMP-Fs (MA-CMP-Fs) were engineered using assembled silica spheres as templates. The MA-CMP-Fs showed much better sensing performance toward nitrotoluenes with Stern–Volmer constants ( K SV ) of up to 1.39 × 10 5 M −1 , compared with CMP-Fs ( K SV up to 5.57 × 10 4 M −1 ). The sensing performance of the MA-CMP-F is superior to those of recent emissive CMP materials ( K SV in the range of 2.08 × 10 3 to 6.78 × 10 4 M −1 for nitroarenes) in the literature, which is attributable to the additional macroporosity of the CMP-F. Also, we demonstrated that various functional CMP films with macroporous inner structures can be developed using tailored building blocks.