A Fully Conjugated Imidazole-based Covalent Organic Framework for Efficient Dynamic Capture of Radioactive Iodine

Abstract

The safe and sustainable development of nuclear energy depends in part on the effective capture of volatile radioactive iodine released from reprocessing off-gas, yet existing adsorbents suffer from poor kinetics, low utilization efficiency, or inadequate stability under harsh conditions. Here, we report a rationally designed imidazole-based covalent organic framework (BI-TAPB-COF) that enables efficient iodine capture through synergistic charge-transfer interactions. The fully conjugated backbone endows the material with exceptional chemical and thermal stability, while the ordered pore channels and embedded electron-rich imidazole groups serve as Lewis basic sites to facilitate strong host-guest interactions with iodine molecules. As a result, BI-TAPB-COF achieves a high dynamic adsorption capacity of 0.402 g/g under demanding conditions (75 °C, 20 mL/min), outperforming commercial silver zeolite and silica gel. Mechanistic investigations reveal the formation of polyiodide anions (I₃⁻ and I₅⁻) via charge-transfer interactions.

Keywords

Covalent organic framework / Iodine / Sorption / Breakthrough experiment

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Jilin University, The Editorial Department of Chemical Research in Chinese Universities and Springer-Verlag GmbH