HiGee strategy towards large-scale synthesis of soluble covalent organic
frameworks
Abstract
The scale-up synthesis of covalent organic frameworks (COFs) with
uniform structure and properties is of great importance for their
practical applications. Here, we proposed a facile way to massively
produce phthalocyanine-like COFs (COFBTC) via high-gravity intensified
synthesis. Alcoholic solvent and basic catalyst were discovered
synergically improved the formation of COFBTC. High concentration and
reaction temperature were beneficial for high production as well. The
intensified mass and heat transfer at high gravity (HiGee) environment
promoted the scaling-up of COFBTC with homogeneous structures and
properties. A high space time yield of 305.9 kg∙(m3∙D)-1 was achieved
for Fe-COFBTC under optimized condition. The massively produced
Fe-COFBTC presented good solubility in alkaline and polar organic
solvents, thus allow to process as homogeneous or heterogenous
electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction reaction. The catalyst exhibited
good performance of 0.79 V (vs. RHE, half-wave) and >95%
recovery in homogeneous electroreduction of O2 in 0.1 M KOH.