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Construction of Porous Organic/Inorganic Hybrid Polymers Based on Polyhedral Oligomeric Silsesquioxane for Energy Storage and Hydrogen Production from Water

Research Authors
Mohamed Gamal Mohamed, Mohamed Hammad Elsayed, Yunsheng Ye, Maha Mohamed Samy, Ahmed E. Hassan, Tharwat Hassan Mansoure, Zhenhai Wen, Ho-Hsiu Chou, Kuei-Hsien Chen, and Shiao-Wei Kuo
Research Abstract

In this study, we used effective and one-pot Heck coupling reactions under moderate reaction conditions to construct two new hybrid porous polymers (named OVS-P-TPA and OVS-P-F HPPs) with high yield, based on silsesquioxane cage nanoparticles through the reaction of octavinylsilsesquioxane (OVS) with different brominated pyrene (P-Br4), triphenylamine (TPA-Br3), and fluorene (F-Br2) as co-monomer units. The successful syntheses of both OVS-HPPs were tested using various instruments, such as X-ray photoelectron (XPS), solid-state 13C NMR, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analyses. All spectroscopic data confirmed the successful incorporation and linkage of P, TPA, and F units into the POSS cage in order to form porous OVS-HPP materials. In addition, the thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and N2 adsorption analyses revealed the thermal stabilities of OVS-P-F HPP (Td10 = 444 °C; char yield: 79 wt%), with a significant specific surface area of 375 m2 g–1 and a large pore volume of 0.69 cm3 g–1. According to electrochemical three-electrode performance, the OVS-P-F HPP precursor displayed superior capacitances of 292 F g−1 with a capacity retention of 99.8% compared to OVS-P-TPA HPP material. Interestingly, the OVS-P-TPA HPP showed a promising HER value of 701.9 µmol g−1 h−1, which is more than 12 times higher than that of OVS-P-F HPP (56.6 µmol g−1 h−1), based on photocatalytic experimental results.

Research Date
Research Department
Research Journal
Polymers
Research Publisher
MDPI
Research Vol
15
Research Website
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4360/15/1/182
Research Year
2022
Research Pages
182-197