Porous Covalent Organic Polymers for Efficient Fluorocarbon‐Based Adsorption Cooling

• Published in: Angewandte Chemie (International ed.) Vol. 60; no. 33; pp. 18037 - 18043
• Main Authors: Zheng, Jian, Wahiduzzaman, Mohammad, Barpaga, Dushyant, Trump, Benjamin A., Gutiérrez, Oliver Y., Thallapally, Praveen, Ma, Shengqian, McGrail, B. Peter, Maurin, Guillaume, Motkuri, Radha Kishan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Germany Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 09.08.2021; Wiley Blackwell (John Wiley & Sons)
• Edition: International ed. in English
• Subjects: Adsorption; adsorption cooling; Cooling; Defects; ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION; Energy technology; fluorocarbon refrigerants; Industrial wastes; Isotherms; MATERIALS SCIENCE; Perfluorocarbons; Polymers; porous covalent organic polymers; Renewable energy technologies; structure defects; porous covalent organic polymers, defective structure, molecular simulations, adsorption cooling, fluorocarbon refrigerants
• ISSN: 1433-7851; 1521-3773
• DOI: 10.1002/anie.202102337

Adsorption‐based cooling is an energy‐efficient renewable‐energy technology that can be driven using low‐grade industrial waste heat and/or solar heat. Here, we report the first exploration of fluorocarbon adsorption using porous covalent organic polymers (COPs) for this cooling application. High fluorocarbon R134a equilibrium capacities and unique overall linear‐shaped isotherms are revealed for the materials, namely COP‐2 and COP‐3. The key role of mesoporous defects on this unusual adsorption behavior was demonstrated by molecular simulations based on atomistic defect‐containing models built for both porous COPs. Analysis of simulated R134a adsorption isotherms for various defect‐containing atomistic models of the COPs shows a direct correlation between higher fluorocarbon adsorption capacities and increasing pore volumes induced by defects. Combined with their high porosities, excellent reversibility, fast kinetics, and large operating window, these defect‐containing porous COPs are promising for adsorption‐based cooling applications. The first joint experimental–computational study of fluorocarbon adsorption into porous covalent organic polymers (COPs) reveals that the presence of structure defects leading to the creation of mesopores with a broad size range offers not only exceptional high‐uptake adsorption of fluorocarbon R134a, but also unique overall linear‐shaped isotherms. COPs are thus proven to be excellent sorbent materials for cooling applications.