Controlled Iodine Phase Transfer of Covalent Organic Framework Membranes for Instant but Sustained Disinfection.

Freestanding membranes of CuCl-implanted TpPa covalent organic frameworks (COFs) were mechanochemically produced. The resulting membrane had a high I adsorption capacity (566.78 g·mol) in cyclohexane, which corresponds to 2.2I per unit cell with 1.3I immobilized on 3Cl ions (60%) and 0.9 on 3N atoms (40%). Upon being placed in aqueous media, the membrane released 61.1% of its loaded I mainly by its Cl ions within 10 min and the remaining 38.9% mainly from its N atoms within about 5 h. Thanks to that, the COF membranes loaded with 1.5 mg of I could be repetitively utilized to kill about 10 CFU/mL in 0.5-3 min at least five times, after which the membranes could retain their bactericidal activity for 4 h against 10 CFU/mL . This highlights the promising application of I-loaded TpPa-CuCl COF membranes for instant and sustained disinfection.