Adsorption of phenol onto four hyper-cross-linked polymeric adsorbents: Effect of hydrogen bonding receptor in micropores on adsorption capacity

Different functional group modified hyper-cross-linked polymeric adsorbents H103, GQ-1, GQ-2 and GQ-5 were synthesized from macroporous crosslinked chloromethylated styrene-divinylbenzene copolymers. Phenol was selected as a hydrogen bonding donator. The object of this work was to explore the effect of hydrogen bonding receptor in micropores of adsorbent on adsorption capacity. Results showed the BET surface area and pore volume followed the order H103 > GQ-5 > GQ-2 > GQ-1 while the adsorption capacity of phenol onto the four hyper-cross-linked polymeric adsorbents followed the order GQ-1 > GQ-2 > GQ-5 > H103. The density functional theory indicated that hydrogen bonding receptor in micropores of the adsorbents was a crucial factor for the adsorption capacity order.