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(1) Background--Fujian and Taiwan are the main areas of wood forest products trade, and they also have a sequential difference in the development of wood forest products industry, with similar trade structure and facing similar international trade situation. The domestic scholars' researches on the international competitiveness of China's wood forest products industry mainly focus on the comparative study of the international competitive-ness of China's wood forest products and the world's main wood forest products exporting countries, and the comparative study on the international competitiveness of wood forest products industry in Fujian and Taiwan is relatively few. At present, the export market of wood forest products in Fujian and Taiwan has a high coincidence degree, and there is a certain trade competition. Based on the generalized double diamond model, the relevant factors affecting the international competitiveness of wood forest products industry in Fujian and Taiwan are dis-cussed, and the decision reference is provided for Fujian's wood forest products industry to improve its international competitiveness. (2) Methods--Firstly, the characteristics of wood forest products trade between Fujian and Taiwan were compared from the aspects of export trade scale, import and export trade structure and main trade markets. Secondly, international market share, trade competitiveness index and relative trade advantage index were selected to measure the international competitiveness of wood forest products industry in Fujian and Taiwan. Finally, the paper analyzed the factors affecting the international competitiveness of the wood forest products industry in Fujian and Taiwan by using the generalized double diamond model, and put forward some policy suggestions to improve the international competitiveness of the wood forest products industry in Fujian. (3) Results--From 2002 to 2008, the gap of international competitiveness of wood forest products between Fujian and Taiwan was small. From 2008 to 2009, both Fujian and Taiwan were affected by the global financial crisis to varying degrees. With the help of its own economic strength and forestry policy reform, the international competitiveness of wood forest products in Fujian surpassed that of Taiwan after 2009, and steadily improved. Compared with the wood forest products industry in Taiwan, the development of wood forest products industry in Fujian had the following four influencing factors; First, the input structure of primary production factors was reasonable, but the input structure of advanced factors such as capital and talents needed to be optimized. Second, there was a vast space for local demand, but the structure of the international demand market needed to be adjusted. Third, the related industries developed rapidly, but the basic supporting industries needed to be upgraded. Fourth, the strategy, structure and competitive environment of domestic and foreign entities needed to be improved. (4) Conclusions and Discussions--Based on the above research conclusions, the following policy recommendations are put forward: First, optimize the input structure of production factors to improve the efficiency of wood forest products industry. Second, adjust the export trade structure to stabilize the wood forest products market. Third, develop relevant and supporting industries to enable the wood forest products industry Chain. Fourth, create a favorable competitive environment to promote the development of wood forest products industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electrochemical reduction of CO2 presents a persistent challenge in achieving high selectivity and stability, particularly in acidic electrolytes. Here, we successfully engineer an efficient armor-like catalyst, comprising Fe nanoparticles within nitrogen-doped carbon (Fe@NC) based on a solvent-free mechanochemistry method followed by pyrolysis. Porous nitrogen-doped carbon shells served as an effective protective layer for the Fe nanoparticles, facilitating the conversion of CO2 to CO with an impressive FECO of 99.0% in acidic electrolytes. As a result, the armored Fe@NC sustained its catalytic activity throughout 14 hours electrolysis period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electrochemical conversion of CO2 into liquid fuels such as ethanol, powered by renewable electricity, is an efficient strategy for CO2 utilization to produce high value-added products. In this work, we discovered that the primary C2+ product could be switched from gaseous ethylene to liquid ethanol by directly increasing the CO2 pressure when Cu2O@Cu with a hollow sphere morphology was adopted as the catalyst. The faradaic efficiency (FE) of ethanol reached as high as 36.6% at a low overpotential of −1.0 V vs. Ag/AgCl (−0.48 V vs. RHE) at 100 bar, which was 4.6 times higher than that of 1 bar. Moreover, faster kinetics and lower overpotential for ethanol formation were obtained at high CO2 pressures. In situ Raman spectroscopy studies at different pressures in combination with density functional theory calculations demonstrated that the *CO surface coverage was increased significantly at increased CO2 pressure, which is responsible for facilitating ethanol formation during the electrochemical CO2RR. This study provides a novel and promising strategy for the selective production of ethanol on Cu-based catalysts by facilely adjusting the CO2 pressure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] An efficient strategy to construct non-noble metal-base electrocatalysts for water splitting is the direct carbonization of metal–organic aerogel composites. Herein for the first time, a novel tube-like metal–carbon nanocomposite with encapsulated small-size individual Fe, Cr and Ni nanoparticles, is prepared by the carbonization of a FeCr-doped Ni-benzenetricarboxylate aerogel. The slender skeleton of the aerogel, supercritical drying and Cr doping alleviates metal aggregation and facilitates the in-situ growth of carbon tubes. This nanocomposite exhibits remarkably low overpotential of the hydrogen evolution reaction (137 mV) and oxygen evolution reaction (220 mV). Further, the cell voltage could be as low as 1.54 V with the current density of 10 mA cm−2 and illustrates excellent stability under a continuous operation for 50 h. This non-noble metal-base electrocatalyst is comparable to noble metal-based electrocatalysts and the impressive performance is ascribed to the abundant active catalytic sites and short reactant diffusion pathways. This work demonstrates great capability of aerogel derivation in the highly active electrocatalyst design for promising electrochemical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, a CO2-expandedethanol–water solutionsystem was applied for the solid–liquid–gas carbonationof Ca(OH)2to CaCO3. The system revealed, forthe first time, instantaneous (within 1 min) conversions of Ca(OH)2(95.1–100.0%) with the volume ratios of ethanol between10% and 80%, indicating that both the water content and the expansionof the system take effect in the carbonation process. The instantaneouscarbonation with 80% ethanol ratio led to production of 12.8% aragonitepolymorph. Further examination of this carbonation case under differentreaction times found that, interestingly and importantly, pure calcitephase was stabilized within a short time (210 min) as compared tothose reported in the literature; however, in this period, the systemexhibited chameleonic phase transformation between calcite, aragonite,and vaterite, normal to abnormal and vice versa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In this study, ibuprofen, a common non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug with low water-solubility was used as a model drug for its nanosizing via a PGSS™ (particles from gas-saturated solutions)-based method. A modified PGSS™ process was employed to prepare PEG6000-ibuprofen composite particles after investigating the solid–liquid–gas phase equilibrium behavior of the PEG6000–ibuprofen–CO2 system. The composite powder was then dispersed into water to remove PEG6000 and obtain ibuprofen nanoparticles. The effects of pressure, temperature, and mass fraction of ibuprofen in the composite on the ibuprofen particle size and particle morphology were investigated. Results showed that spherical ibuprofen nanoparticles with diameter of 20–500nm were prepared at different conditions. Additionally, the dissolution rates of different ibuprofen particles were studied, indicating much faster dissolution of the obtained ibuprofen nanoparticles compared with the raw material and those from the direct physical mixing approach in the phosphate buffer solution (pH=7.2±0.02). This can be attributed to the reduced size and the reduced crystallinity of the ibuprofen particles from the modified PGSS™-based process. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Graphical abstract Highlights • CO 2 -expanded gelation approach was proposed for preparing bimodal porous materials. • CO 2 -expansion induced much short time for gelation. • CTAB template contributed to the surface area and CO 2 -expansion to the pore volume. • Bimodal silica-PW showed good selectivity and short time for 1,8-cineole from α-terpineol. • Bimodal Ni/SiO 2 exhibited excellent performance for phenol hydrogenation to cyclohexanol. Abstract In this work, a facile route was designed to fabricate bimodal porous silica with high surface area and pore volume via a CO 2 -expanded gelation with assistance of CTAB. Parameters such as the amount of CTAB, pressure of CO 2 and agitation time were investigated and optimized. Results showed bimodal silica contained small pore size (around 2 nm) from CTAB templating and large pore size (> 4 nm) from CO 2 -expanded gelation could be easily adjusted by the synthesis conditions. A typical sample with surface area of 1133 m2/g and pore volume of 1.24 mL/g was applied as a catalyst support for phosphotungstic acid, revealing much faster catalysis rate and relatively high selectivity for 1, 8-cineole from α-terpineol than the commercial MCM-41. The approach was also successfully extended to the preparation of bimodal NiO/silica composite, and the reduced Ni/silica showed higher catalysis performance than the unimodal sample for phenol hydrogenation to cyclohexanol. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phosphotungstic acid (PW) was successfully immobilized on imidazole poly(ionic liquid) (PIL) via ion-exchange for the catalytic isomerization of α-terpineol to 1,8-cineole. TG, XRF, FT-IR, XRD, NH-TPD and DSA were subsequently used to characterize the PW/PIL catalyst. High catalytic activity and stable performance of the catalyst were achieved. A series of 1-alkyl-3-vinylimizolium bromide monomers (alkyl from ethyl to hexadecyl) were applied for the synthesis of PILs as the supports of PW. Results revealed that the lipophilicity of longer chain alkyl PIL exposed the PW active sites efficiently, which consequently enhanced the α-terpineol conversion and reduced the reaction time. Graphical Abstract: [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A solute-saturated supercritical fluid loading (SSFL) process was proposed to load 2-phenylethyl alcohol (PEA) in silica and activated carbon (AC). The adsorption and loading amounts of PEA in carries were investigated at different temperatures (50.0–60.0 °C) and pressures (8.0–14.0 MPa) by a column sampling method. By using a high-pressure quartz spring method, the adsorption amounts of the binary PEA and CO 2 in silica were determined. The retention of PEA in the SSFL powder flavors was evaluated by a nitrogen-purging method. Results revealed that, compared with AC, silica had high loading of PEA (maximum 0.484 g/g) and showed better results in PEA preservation from loss at room temperature and control release at higher temperature; PEA suppressed the adsorption of CO 2 at relatively high pressure. Discussion indicated that precipitation and adsorption contributed to the high loading of PEA in silica, while adsorption mainly contributed to that in AC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alumina was synthesized from Al(NO 3 ) 3 , AlCl 3 and Al 3 (SO 4 ) 2 with NaOH, and from NaAlO 2 with HNO 3 by addition of acidic solution to alkaline solution with a syringe pump. The as-produced Al 2 O 3 precursors were supercritically dried and calcined at 500 °C to obtain mesoporous γ-alumina material. Results showed that all the inorganic aluminum salts could be used to synthesize high pore volume γ-alumina by controlling the precursor addition rate at room temperature and supercritical CO 2 drying. However, the γ-alumina with the largest pore volume (5.4 cm 3 /g), BET surface area (423.7 m 2 /g) and pore size (37.8 nm) was obtained using Al(NO 3 ) 3 and NaOH. This γ-alumina was further used as a support for Fe-based catalyst with hydrogen peroxide to produce hydroquinone and catechol in the phenol hydroxylation reaction in 30 min at 80 °C. The conversion of phenol was 53.4% whereas the selectivity to dihydroxybenzenes-DHBs (hydroquinone-HQ and catechol-CAT) was as high as 96.2%, revealing that the larger pore volume takes effect in the γ-alumina as support for the Fe-based catalyst in the hydroxylation reaction, and that the γ-alumina may be a good candidate as the support for other important catalysts such as those used in the petroleum refining industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The solid–liquid–gas equilibrium data of the tetra-n-heptyl ammonium bromide ([thepAm][Br])–CO 2 system, and then the solubility and absorption kinetic data of CO 2 in different phases of [thepAm][Br] were measured by a high pressure quartz spring method. Results showed high molar fractions of CO 2 in solid [thepAm][Br] (0.921 at 15.0 MPa and 313.2 K; 0.567 at 5.0 MPa and 313.2 K) which were even higher than those in liquid [thepAm][Br] at same pressures and those in other ionic liquids (ILs) reported in the literature at relatively high pressures. The study also revealed that CO 2 absorption rate was very pressure dependent. The Peng–Robinson equation of state (PR-EoS) with the van der Waals one-fluid mixing rules and the NRTL model were employed to calculate the phase equilibrium data by looking the solid [thepAm][Br] as a special liquid. A 1-D diffusion model with a concentration dependent diffusion coefficient equation combined with the NRTL model was developed to calculate the absorption kinetic data of CO 2 in [thepAm][Br], suggesting that the diffusion coefficient was not a constant at high pressures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] A high-pressure PLM approach was proposed and established. [•] Melt crystallization behaviors of two solutes in CO2 were studied. [•] High pressure CO2 accelerated the crystallization rates of the two solutes. [•] CO2 did not evidently affect the nucleation or growth patterns of the two solutes. [•] The crystallization behaviors of the two solutes were different from those of polymers in CO2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effect of temperature, pressure,time, solid ionic liquid (SIL)mass (here, the SIL used is tetra-n-heptyl-ammoniumbromide, abbreviated as THepAmBr), reuse of THepAmBr, type of SIL,and additives on the solid–gas (Ca(OH)2–CO2) carbonation system was investigated. Results showed thatconversion increased as the temperature increased from 25.0 °Cup to 50.0 °C and then decreased thereafter; but increased consistentlywith increasing pressure. Similarly, conversion increased as the massof THepAmBr increased, leading to complete conversion at a THepAmBr/Ca(OH)2mass ratio of 0.1:1 with the production of rhombohedral calcites.Stability tests revealed that THepAmBr was active and stable. Theeffect of BmimBr and BmimCl indicated that they gave conversions of>96%. Furthermore, studies on polymorphic control to aragonitegaveinteresting results: 30.2% aragonite was synthesized with MgCl2and 54.7% with PEG6000. Moreover, time-dependent conversionshowed that the reaction mechanism for the system was self-catalytic.Consequently, the reaction rate equation that was derived describedthe experimental conversion satisfactorily. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Adsorption of 2-phenylethyl alcohol (PEA) from supercritical CO2 onto silica aerogel was investigated. A monolayer to multilayer adsorption isotherm was observed, measured at 15.0MPa and 323.2K, from the PEA-unsaturated to PEA-saturated supercritical CO2, indicating the potential utility of the solute-saturated supercritical adsorption (SSA). The amount of PEA adsorbed on the silica aerogel with SSA at different temperatures and pressures was measured, and the release of PEA from the aerogel at 303.2K was also evaluated. A theoretical model for the SSA equilibrium was developed with the assistance of the adsorption isotherms of pure CO2 onto the silica and considering a three-phase binary system, where the two-dimensional van der Waals equation of state and the three-dimensional Stryjek–Vera modification of the Peng–Robinson equation of state were used respectively to describe the adsorbed phase and the bulk phases (vapor phase and liquid phase). Results showed that the model was capable of describing the adsorption behavior of the system with an average absolute relative deviation of 3.3%. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In this work, the high acidic crude oil deacidification study was performed with novel 1-alkyl-1,5-diazabicyclo[4.3.0]non-5-ene (DBN) based ionic liquids (ILs). Firstly, we took advantage of the systematic COSMO-RS (Conductor-like Screening Model for Real Solvents) calculations to screen the possible ILs with good acid extraction performance from the combinations of 94 cations and 56 anions. Four 1-alkyl-1,5-diazabicyclo[4.3.0]non-5-enium imidazolide ([DBN-R][IM]) ILs with varying alkyl chains were eventually identified and synthesized successfully. Their deacidification performances were tested experimentally and different factors, including the alkyl chain length, ILs/oil mass ratio, temperature, and the initial total acid number (TAN) value of the simulated acidic oil, were also studied in detail. The experimental results showed that [DBN-R][IM] exhibited excellent performances on naphthenic acids (NAs) removal and [DBN-Et][IM] could achieve 93% of NAs removal employing the ILs/oil mass ratio of 0.06 at room temperature for the acidic oil with the TAN value of 3.28 mg KOH/g. COSMO-RS analyses were also used to elucidate the unusual effects of the alkyl chain length and temperature on the NAs extraction performances. Additionally, a two-step deacidification strategy was proposed aiming at realizing more efficient NAs extraction. Finally, density functional theory (DFT) calculations were carried out and the independent gradient model (IGM) analyses were applied to the IL-NAs system to get insight into the deacidification mechanism of the ILs. [Display omitted] • Four ionic liquids were screened out theoretically from 5264 ionic liquids for naphthenic acids extraction. • Four novel 1,5-diazabicyclo[4.3.0]non-5-ene based ionic liquids were synthesized successfully. • Deacidification factors were experimentally investigated and analyzed theoretically. • A two-step deacidification strategy was proposed. • DFT calculations and independent gradient model analyses were performed to study the mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A high-pressuregravimetric apparatus using a quartz spring formeasuring solubility and diffusivity of CO2in ionic liquids(ILs) was established for the first time. The time-dependent amountsof CO2were recorded with a telescopic cathetometer andanalyzed by using a one-dimensional diffusion model to obtain diffusioncoefficients of CO2in two ILs, namely, 1-n-butyl-3-methyl imidazolium hexafluorophosphate ([bmim][PF6]) and 1-butyl-3-methyl imidazolium tetrafluoroborate ([bmim] [BF4]) at pressures up to 10 MPa. Solubility data of CO2in the two ILs up to 20 MPa were also obtained from its equilibriummasses and compared with those reported in the literature. The Peng–Robinsonequation of state with the van der Waals one-fluid mixing rules wasemployed to correlate the experimental solubility data, revealingsatisfactory calculation results. The measured diffusion coefficientsof CO2in [bmim][PF6] and [bmim][BF4] separately increase from 3.550 × 10–10to6.064 × 10–10m2/s and from 7.184× 10–10to 9.880 × 10–10m2/s following the pressure increase from 2.0 to 10.0MPa at 323.2 K, while those at 5.0 MPa and different temperaturesfollow the Arrhenius equation, providing the diffusion activationenergies of 25.53 and 20.30 kJ/mol for the [bmim][PF6]–CO2and [bmim][BF4]–CO2systems,respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A novel carbonation route for the synthesis of CaCO3 is reported with high pressure CO2 scintillated into dry Ca(OH)2 powder containing a solid ionic liquid (SIL, tetra-n-heptyl-ammonium bromide). Results show that calcite structure with rhombohedral lattice is produced at all CO2 conditions investigated: supercritical (15.0MPa, 50.0°C), compressed (5.0MPa, 30.0°C), liquid (15.0MPa, 25.0°C), gaseous (0.1MPa, 30.0°C) and atmospheric (0.1MPa, 30.0°C). Furthermore, rapid and complete conversion is achieved under the supercritical condition with the production of nano-sized calcite particles, suggesting that coupling SIL with CO2 could be an effective system for enhancing traditional gas–solid reactions. A mechanism for the rapid gas–solid carbonation reaction is proposed with emphasis on the initialization of the reaction by tiny adsorbed water and CO2 dissolved in the SIL. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A supercritical fluid-based method is proposed to produce coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) nanoparticles. First, CoQ10/polyethylene glycol 6000 composite particles are prepared by a modified PGSS (particles from gas-saturated solutions) process with controlling the flow rate of the gas-saturated solution. Then, CoQ10 nanoparticles are obtained by dissolving the composite particles into water. The effect of experimental variables of the modified PGSS process, including pressure, temperature, flow rate of the gas-saturated solution, and mass fraction of CoQ10, on the CoQ10 particle size and particle size distribution was investigated. Results show that CoQ10 slurry product with a median diameter of 190nm and yield of 89.8% can be prepared at an optimum condition (operating pressure of 25MPa, operating temperature of 80°C, gas-saturated solution flow rate of 1.02mL/min, CoQ10 mass fraction of 40% and nozzle diameter of 100μm) via the supercritical fluid-based method. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The first and last melting points (FLMP) method was employed to measure the melting temperature–composition () data at solid–liquid–gas (SLG) equilibrium for the naphthalene–biphenyl–CO2 system. Results show that the system''s phase diagram is simple eutectic under all investigated pressures (0.1, 3.0, 6.0 and 8.0MPa), and the system''s eutectic composition is almost constant. The () data measured with a high-pressure differential scanning calorimetry are in good agreement with these from FLMP. The semi-predictive model using solubility data (SMS) and the calculation model combining with GE models (CMG) for binary systems were extended to this ternary system. For the SMS model, the Peng–Robinson equation of state (PR-EoS) with the van der Waals one-fluid mixing rule was used to correlate the solubility data of the two solutes in CO2 to obtain the two interaction parameters k 12 and k 13 and calculate the fugacity coefficients of the solutes in the liquid and vapor phases; the UNIFAC method was also applied to the activity coefficient of the solutes in the liquid phase. For the CMG model, the PR-EoS combining respectively the MHV1, LCVM, and modified LCVM (mLCVM) mixing rules was applied to the fugacity coefficients of the solutes. Results show that the CMG model with MHV1 gives the best prediction of the system''s SLG equilibrium, while the SMS model and the CMG model with mLCVM provide comparable and acceptable results. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The mesoporous poly(N , N ′-methylene-bis(1-(3-vinylimidazolium)) chloride), labeled as PDVIm-Cl, with double anions (Cl−) and low monomer molecular weight was synthesized and applied in the adsorption of anionic dyes (acid orange 7 (AO7), sunset yellow (SY), reactive blue 19 (RB19), congo red (CR)). Due to the mesoporous structure, abundant Cl− and positively charged imidazole rings, the poly(ionic liquid) (PIL) exhibited superior adsorption ability towards anionic dyes. What is more, the RB19 adsorption by PDVIm-Cl could achieve the highest capacity (2605 ± 254 mg g−1) which was nearly twice higher than the maximum adsorption capacity of the previously reported materials. All the adsorption kinetic data and isotherms fitted well with the pseudo second-order model and Langmuir-Freundlich model. To better explore the practical potential of the PIL for dye adsorption, the adsorption under different pH values and column adsorption performances were also evaluated. Results showed that PDVIm-Cl exhibited high removal efficiencies for anionic dyes over a wide pH range (2−10). Also, the great reusability could be well demonstrated by the achievable continuous column adsorption-desorption process. It is worth mentioning that the regeneration could be realized with very little desorbent which was far less than the adsorption volume flowing through the column and the desorption efficiency was well maintained after three consecutive cycles. At last, the adsorption mechanism was explored by experiments combined with quantum chemical calculations and showed anionic dyes adsorption by PDVIm-Cl was a joint process dominated by the ion exchange, electrostatic interaction, hydrogen bond and π-π stacking. • PDVIm-Cl is capable to adsorb various anionic dyes with high capacities. • PDVIm-Cl shows unprecedented adsorption capacity of 2605 ± 254 mg g−1 for RB19 dye. • PDVIm-Cl could be used to adsorb different anionic dyes in a wide range of pH. • PDVIm-Cl can easily realize continuous column adsorption-desorption process. • The adsorption mechanism is studied by experimental and theoretical calculations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Synthetic anion exchange membranes (AEMs) usually suffer from low conductivity, bad alkaline stability and poor dimensional stability. Constructing efficient ion transport channels is considered to be one of the most effective ways for preparing the AEMs with the high conductivity and low swelling ratio. Herein we demonstrate a facile strategy to achieve this goal via using the rigid crosslinkers to expend the interchain spacing of polymer chains. Three crosslinkers are chose to modify poly (ether ketone) (PEK) AEMs. The AEMs with rigid crosslinkers have more efficient ion transport channels and thus show both higher water uptake and higher ionic conductivity, compared with the AEM with the flexible crosslinker. Especially, the hydroxide conductivity of the AEM increases from 63.2 to 110.3 mS cm−1 at 80 °C when the short flexible crosslinker is replaced by the long rigid crosslinker. Meanwhile, the swelling ratios (SR) are less than 25%. The rigid crosslinkers should be beneficial to construct efficient ion channel and overcome the trade-off relation between the ionic conductivity and dimensional stability of the synthetic AEMs. Image 1 • The rigid crosslinkers are developed to construct fast ion transport channels in AEMs. • The steric effect of crosslinkers affect the structure and performance of AEMs largely. • The long rigid crosslinker contributes to form highly-efficient ion channels. • The rigid crosslinker addresses the dilemma between conductivity and swelling of AEMs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ion exchange membranes (IEMs) are widely used in various fields including ion-selective separation processes and fuel cells. However, synthetic IEMs with a high ion conductivity usually suffer a high swelling ratio in working surroundings. Herein we demonstrate a versatile strategy to develop novel microporous copolymers for the high-performance IEMs via combining merits of polymers of intrinsic microporosity (PIMs) and common functional polymers. As a sample, a series of PIM-1/PES copolymers are synthesized accordingly. These copolymers, other than many PIMs, exhibit a good solubility in common organic solvents including N -methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP), and are successfully applied to prepare the high-performance IEMs by chloromethylation and multi-cation crosslinking. The introduction of PIM-1 segments exhibits distinct advantages in the effective water management, swelling control and construction of well-developed ion channels. The resulting PIM-1/PES 0.50 anion exchange membrane (AEM), with an ion exchange capacity (IEC) of 1.075 mmol g−1, has a low swelling ratio of 11.0% and a high hydroxide conductivity of 87.6 mS cm−1 at 80 °C. The developed strategy has wide applications in the development of new IEMs materials. Image 1 • A strategy is developed to prepare microporous copolymers for high-performance IEMs. • The copolymers exhibit good solubility in common organic solvents including NMP. • The copolymers are easily grafted with functional groups for high-performance IEMs. • The PIM-1 segment favors to construct well-developed ion channels in the AEMs. • The prepared AEMs show the high ion conductivity and low swelling at low IEC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anion exchange membrane (AEMs) as a kind of important functional material are widely used in many fields including fuel cell, electrodialysis and water treatment. However, synthetic AEMs generally suffer a pernicious trade-off: high ion-conductive AEMs lack dimensional stability and vice versa. Herein we demonstrate a versatile strategy to prepare the AEMs with both high ion conductivity and excellent dimensional stability (i.e. , low swelling ratio) via hydrophobic crosslinking and introducing hydrophobic chains. The hydrophobic length of crosslinkers has great influence on construction of highly efficient ion channels in the AEMs. Amazingly, the hydrophilic poly (phenylene oxide) (PPO) AEM crosslinked by 1,8-diaminooctane has the highest hydroxide conductivity that is further improved to 157.2 mS cm−1 (10% increases) with a low swelling ratio of 12.9% at 80 °C by introducing hydrophobic PPO backbone. This AEM not only overcomes the trade-off between the ion conductivity and the dimensional stability of crosslinked AEMs, but also breaks the upper bound between the ion conductivity and the water uptake. The newly developed strategy of hydrophobic dual-modifications promises to be an effective approach to develop the high-performance AEMs. Image 1 • A novel strategy was developed by combining both hydrophobic crosslinker and chain. • The hydrophobic length of crosslinkers has great influence on ion channels of AEMs. • The hydrophobic chains increase ion conductivity and decrease the swelling ratio. • The formed AEM has the OH− conductivity of 157 mS cm−1 with a SR of 12.9% at 80 °C. • This work breaks the trade-off between ion conductivity and dimensional stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]