Recent advances in porous organic polymers for sustainable gas separations

Throughout human history, the progress of human society has invariably been accompanied by more efficient utilization of energy. Currently, approximately 15 % of the total energy consumed by humans is utilized in the process of separating and purifying substances. Therefore, novel separation methods are urgently needed. In the field of gas separation, emerging membrane separation and solid adsorption separation technologies offer greater energy efficiency and environmental benefits. Porous organic polymers (POPs), with their adjustable pore sizes and chemical environments, high chemical and thermal stability, and other advantages, demonstrate significant potential as materials for gas separation. This critical review introduces various mechanisms and performance evaluation metrics for membrane separation and solid adsorption from the perspective of these two separation methods. The use of five types of POPs (PIMs, COFs, CMPs, PAFs and HCPs), it highlights recent designs by researchers for the separation of different gas pairs, including tuning of the pore size, the modulation of pore environment, the preparation of mixed matrix membranes, and novel membrane fabrication strategies. This critical review also evaluated the impact of the inherent physicochemical properties of different POPs on their application scenarios. Finally, this work analyzes and identifies the challenges that POPs face in achieving various industrial applications and forecasts future directions in this emerging field.