“…Prior to our use of them as pore-lining chemical functionality in microporous polymer membranes for electrochemical devices, amidoxime-based polymeric materials have been previously implemented in gas separations 10 and in extracting lanthanides and actinides from processed ores, where their stability at pH > 13 is a strict requirement. 8,9,51 To address the structural rigidity of the polymer backbone, we were drawn to an architectural platform based on ladder polymers, where conformational and configurational entropy are low and intrinsic microporosity can be high (10%-30%), relative to other classes of polymers (e.g., cellulosics, polysulfones, polyamides, polyimides, polyolefins, etc.). Such ladder polymers are often referred to as polymers of intrinsic microporosity (PIMs).…”