Synthesis of carbazole-based microporous polymer networks: Via an oxidative coupling mediated self-assembly strategy: From morphology regulation to application analysis

This work reports a novel preparation of morphology-tunable carbazole-based microporous polymer networks (C-MPNs) via an oxidative coupling mediated self-assembly strategy. By altering the relative block proportions of polylactide-b-poly(N-vinylcarbazole) (PLA-b-PNVC) diblock copolymer precursors, the C-MPNs with different morphologies from disordered solids to bicontinuous and hollow spherical structures can be successfully prepared. This study reveals that the efficiency of iodine adsorption application in the gas phase strongly depends on the morphology of the C-MPNs. Moreover, the obtained C-MPNs with nitrogen-rich sites can be further used as precursors to produce N-doped porous carbon networks (N-PCNs) through pyrolysis, which can serve as a robust support for Pd catalysts (Pd@N-PCNs). More importantly, the resultant Pd@N-PCNs with a hollow spherical structure showed more excellent catalytic performance and stability for selective hydrogenation than the corresponding disordered solid and bicontinuous carbon network supported Pd catalysts (Pd@S-N-PCNs and Pd@B-N-PCNs). The proposed strategy in this work may provide a new route for the exploration and tuning of the morphologies of porous materials for various applications in the future.