Continuous and Scalable Production of Multifunctional Phenolic Resin Beads in a Flow System for Portable Water Treatment

We report a template-free and scalable method for the continuous production of mesoporous phenolic resin beads using a flow system. The synthesis can be monitored <i>in situ</i> using spectroscopic methods to capture the stepwise transition from soluble oligomers to insoluble polymer networks. With a combination of high porosity, abundant functional groups, and hydrophilic/hydrophobic surface features, the mesoporous beads interact favorably with a broad range of micropollutants. When incorporated with superparamagnetic nanoparticles and fluorescein isothiocyanate, the resultant beads exhibit magnetic separability and fluorescence traceability under ultraviolet light. The multifunctionality allows the beads to efficiently adsorb Pb²⁺, methylene blue, and rhodamine B for rapid removal from a suspension using a magnet, making them well-suited for portable water treatment. This approach is extendible to the scalable synthesis of other functional nanomaterials for environmental remediation.