Rational Design and Synthesis of Porous Organic Polymers for Targeted Adsorptive Separation of Model Organic Pollutants

Abstract Porous organic polymers (POPs) are promising adsorbents for organic contaminants, but their powdery form hinders recovery and practical deployment. Here, an imine- and aromatic-rich porous organic polymer (TFB/2-AP POP) was synthesized from 1,3,5-triformylbenzene and o-aminophenol by a solvothermal route, with an optimized monomer mass ratio of 4:3. The resulting POP powder showed a BPA adsorption capacity of 215.49 mg∙g − 1 . To overcome the handling and recycling limitations of the powder, natural loofah sponge and cellulose sponge were evaluated as macroscopic supports, and an easily recoverable POP@cellulose sponge (POP@CS) monolith was fabricated by ultrasound-assisted loading. POP particles were uniformly distributed on the cellulose sponge skeleton while the interconnected channels were retained. Under neutral conditions, POP@CS achieved an equilibrium adsorption capacity of 171.18 mg∙g − 1 and removed more than 98% of BPA within 6 h at an adsorbent dosage of 0.4 g∙L − 1 . The composite maintained strong adsorption over pH 3–11 and reached a maximum capacity of 227.15 mg∙g − 1 at pH 9. Adsorption followed the pseudo-second-order kinetic model and the Freundlich isotherm model. Common coexisting ions caused less than a 25% decrease in BPA removal, and more than 88% of the initial removal performance was retained after five adsorption–desorption cycles. Mechanistic analysis indicated synergistic contributions from π–π electron donor–acceptor interactions, hydrogen bonding, electrostatic attraction, and hierarchical-channel-enhanced mass transfer. This work provides a simple strategy for transforming high-performance POP powders into recyclable monolithic adsorbents for practical removal of phenolic organic pollutants from water.