Micropollutants are found in all water sources, even after thorough treatments that include membrane filtration. New ones emerge as complex molecules are continuously produced and discarded after used. Treatment methods and sorbent designs are mainly based on non-specific interactions and, therefore, have been elusive. Here, we developed swellable covalent organic polymers (COP) with great affinity towards micropollutants, such as textile industry dyes. Surprisingly, only cationic dyes in aqueous solution were selectively and completely removed. Studies of the COPs surfaces led to a gating capture, where negatively charged layer attracts cationic dyes and moves them inside the swollen gel through diffusive and hydrophobic interaction of the hydrocarbon fragments. Despite its larger molecular size, crystal violet has been taken the most, 13.4 mg g⁻¹, surpassing all competing sorbents. The maximum adsorption capacity increased from 12.4 to 14.6 mg and from 8.9 to 11.4 mg when the temperature of dye solution was increased from 20 to 70 °C. The results indicated that disulfide-linked COPs are attractive candidates for selectively eliminating cationic dyes from industrial wastewater due to exceptional swelling behaviour, low-cost and easy synthesis.

The microstructural properties and hardness of a model ternary Fe-4Cr-6Ti ferritic alloy aged at 800°C for 8, 16 and 24 h are investigated in detail. Fine Fe2Ti Laves phase particles precipitate in the α-Fe (ferrite) matrix phase after solutionizing and subsequent aging treatments. The size and amount of Fe2Ti precipitates gradually increase with increasing aging time. The magnetic measurements of the aged samples confirm the variations in the microstructural properties including the volume fraction of the constituent phases, and Ti content of the α-Fe matrix phase. The mean Vickers microhardness value also increases from 203.5 to 238.4 with increasing aging time from 8 to 24 h. In addition, the cyclic oxidation behavior of 24 h aged sample, which contains maximum amount of Fe2Ti precipitates, is also investigated in detail. X-ray diffraction analysis reveals that scale product is α-Fe2O3 (hematite). Significant scale spallation and void formation is observed on the surfaces of 24 h aged Fe-4Cr-6Ti sample oxidized at 500°C.