Preparation of Freestanding Conjugated Microporous Polymer Nanomembranes for Gas Separation

Conjugated microporous polymers (CMPs) have attracted much interest due to their intrinsic porosity, outstanding stability, and high variability. However, the processing of these materials for membrane application has been limited due to their insoluble nature when synthesized as bulk material. Here we report the synthesis of freestanding CMP-nanomembranes via layer-by-layer growth of a “click” based conjugated microporous polymer on a sacrificial substrate. After dissolution of the substrate the CMP-nanomembrane can be transferred to porous substrates and continuously cover holes of up to 50 μm diameter. The CMP-nanomembranes appear defect-free as inferred from high selectivity values obtained from gas permeation experiments and from electrochemical investigation in the presence of ferrocene. The presented synthesis method represents a versatile strategy to incorporate CMP materials in functional devices for membrane separation, catalysis, or organic electronics.