Facile Synthesis of Hypercrosslinked Hollow Microporous Organic Capsules for Electrochemical Sensing of Cu^II Ions

A very simple and facile methodology is used to prepare dithiocarbamate-functionalized hollow microporous organic capsules (HMOCs-DTC), which exhibit excellent stability, a high surface area, and appropriate microporous architecture. In this strategy, SiO₂ particles are used as templates to construct PS-DVB-MAA microspheres, and then dithiocarbamate groups are grafted onto them. The dithiocarbamate-functionalized hypercrosslinked microporous organic capsules (HMOCs-DTC/GC) are then used as an electrode material for the detection of Cu^II ions. Cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electron impedance spectroscopy (EIS) are exploited to study the electrochemical potential of the designed material. The placement of functional groups (dithiocarbamate) at the mesopore interface effectively enhances the mass transfer, which facilitates the more selective detection of Cu^II ions. The high sensitivity of the modified electrode is expressed in terms of current (I_p ) enhancement at extremely low concentrations of Cu^II ions. Thus, a functional and robust porous material (HMOCs-DTC) presents a sensitive sensing ability, displaying the calibration response over a wide linear range (2.50×10^-11 -3.50×10^-10 m), with a lowest limit of detection of 1.02×10^-11 m. Indeed, these HMOCs present a new class of porous polymers possessing extraordinarily high scalability but avoiding complex and expensive synthetic methodologies, promoting its practical utilization.