Nitrogen rich barbituric acid-derived porous organic polymer for efficient radioactive iodine adsorption

Driven by the growth in nuclear energy consumption, the capture of hazardous contaminants like radioactive iodine poses a critical challenge. Porous organic polymers (POPs) offer a promising solution as efficient adsorbents. In this work, we report the synthesis of two nitrogen-rich POPs, BA-Mel and BA-TAPT, via an imine condensation reaction. The presence of abundant nitrogen atoms and phenyl rings provides abundant active sites for the efficient adsorption of radioactive iodine in both the liquid and gas phases. In the gas phase, BA-Mel showed an iodine uptake of 4.0 g g⁻¹, while BA-TAPT achieved 4.7 g g⁻¹. While in hexane and simulated seawater, BA-Mel exhibits superior adsorption capacity due to its highly porous structure, high nitrogen content, large surface area, and excellent dispersion in solution. Overall, this study highlights that incorporating nitrogen-rich sites into POP is a viable approach for developing highly effective adsorbents for the capture of iodine.