Porous Silsesquioxane–Imine Frameworks as Highly Efficient Adsorbents for Cooperative Iodine Capture

The efficient capture and storage of radioactive iodine ( 129 I or 131 I), which can be formed during nuclear energy generation or nuclear waste storage, is of paramount importance. Herein, we present highly efficient aerogels for reversible iodine capture, namely, porous silsesquioxane–imine frameworks (PSIFs), constructed by condensation of octa(3-aminopropyl)silsesquioxane cage compound and selected multitopic aldehydes. The resulting PSIFs are permanently porous (Brunauer–Emmet–Teller surface areas up to 574 m 2 /g), thermally stable, and present a combination of micro-, meso-, and macropores in their structures. The presence of a large number of imine functional groups in combination with silsesquioxane cores results in extremely high I 2 affinity with uptake capacities up to 485 wt %, which is the highest reported to date. Porous properties can be controlled by the strut length and rigidity of linkers. In addition, PSIF-1a could be recycled at least four times while maintaining 94% I 2 uptake capacity. Kinetic studies of I 2 desorption show two strong binding sites with apparent activation energies of 77.0 and 89.0 kJ/mol. These energies are considerably higher than the enthalpy of sublimation of bulk I 2 .