General Route to High Surface Area Covalent Organic Frameworks and Their Metal Oxide Composites as Magnetically Recoverable Adsorbents and for Energy Storage

Two-dimensional (2D) imine-linked covalent organic frameworks (COFs) have attracted great interest for gas uptake, catalysis, drug delivery, electronic devices, and photocatalytic applications. The synthetic methodologies involved in imine-linked COF formations such as solvothermal synthesis usually require harsh experimental conditions. In this work, we show for the first time how highly crystalline COFs with very high surface areas (3.6 times higher than using conventional approaches) can be prepared by combining a mechanochemical and crystallization approach. More importantly, this facile method is a general route to novel composites of COF and metal oxides including Fe₃O₄, Co₃O₄, and NiO. The composites can be used as magnetically recoverable adsorbents and show a strong redox-activity making them interesting for applications in electrochemical energy storage.