SUPERVISOR: Robert T. WOODWARD

PROJECT ASSIGNED TO: Anastasiia NARYSHKINA

The urgent need for sustainable materials in separation and energy storage technologies has driven increasing interest in porous organic polymers. This project focuses on the design and synthesis of hypercrosslinked polymers (HCPs) derived from renewable, biogenic feedstocks. By leveraging the structural diversity and functionality of biomass-derived precursors, the project aims to develop environmentally benign synthetic routes towards high surface area HCPs with tunable porosity, chemical functionality and stability. Through systematic variation of crosslinking strategies and monomer functionalities, the research will explore structure-property relationships to optimize materials for a variety of separation applications including atmospheric water harvesting, CO2 capture, and energy storage. Advanced characterization techniques, such as gas sorption analysis, spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, etc. will be employed to evaluate the chemical and physical properties of new polymeric structures. The resulting materials are expected to contribute to the development of next generation sustainable sorbents and separation and storage processes, aligning with circular economy and climate neutrality goals.