Halogen-free porous poly(ionic liquid) fibers for simultaneous CO2 capture and conversion under mild conditions

CO2 capture, storage and utilization is needed to mitigate the rapid rise in the atmospheric CO2 concentration.

A key challenge is the gigantic mass of CO2 emitted, which asks for efficient and economically viable approaches that are currently missing and limited by the lack of suitable materials.

To break through this barrier, the HANDLECO2 project aims to develop halogen-free dual-function porous poly(ionic liquid) fibers (PPFs) to simultaneously capture and convert CO2 under mild conditions into cyclic carbonates. Poly(ionic liquid)s (PILs) hold covalently bonded ionic liquids (ILs) by a macromolecular backbone.

ILs are known CO2-philes, and IL-derived PILs are naturally in favor of CO2 sorption, while their ions can be tailor-made for catalytic CO2 transformation.

We discovered that the newly emerging 1,2,4-triazolium PILs are catalytically active and drastically more CO2-philic than common polyimidazoliums.

By structuring chemically tailor-made 1,2,4-triazolium PILs into porous fibers, we envision they can capture and convert CO2 at the same time under mild conditions, which can potentially cut the processing cost to an affordably low level in the near future.

This project will advance scientific knowledge and technology to fixate and convert CO2 into value-added chemicals that reduces the consumption of fossil resources.

Its outcome will expedite the research in PILs and dual-function materials and equip us with powerful materials tools to mitigate the CO2 rise.