Impact of water coadsorption for carbon dioxide capture in microporous polymer sorbents.

Alcohol-containing polymer networks synthesized by Friedel-Crafts alkylation have surface areas of up to 1015 m(2)/g. Both racemic and chiral microporous binaphthol (BINOL) networks can be produced by a simple, one-step route. The BINOL networks show higher CO(2) capture capacities than their naphthol counterparts under idealized, dry conditions. In the presence of water vapor, however, these BINOL networks adsorb less CO(2) than more hydrophobic analogues, suggesting that idealized measurements may give a poor indication of performance under more realistic carbon capture conditions.