Efficient organic pollutant degradation under visible-light by functional polymers of intrinsic microporosity

Qingquan Tang, Jiang Gong*, Qiang Zhao*

Catalysis Science & Technology

Organic photocatalysts have recently drawn intense attention to wastewater treatment through the efficient utilization of solar energy. Rational design and synthesis of organic photocatalysts with facilitated charge-carriers transfer are crucial for achieving high-performance photodegradation of pollutants. In this work, functional polymers of intrinsic microporosity (PIMs) were synthesized by quaternization reaction, and the D-π-A and zwitterion structured polymers show the visible-light-driven catalytic activity for the degradation of organic pollutants. The formation of D-π-A structures in PIMs is demonstrated to extend visible-light absorption and promote charge-transfer transition. Besides, the zwitterion structures improve hydrophilicity and induce aggregations of polymer chains, facilitating the charge-carriers diffusion at the interfaces of polymers-water and polymers-polymers. The combination of these favorable features endows the resultant PIMs with high catalytic degradation ability of organic dyes under visible-light irradiation, which prevails over the state-of-the-art organic photocatalysts.

https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2019/cy/c9cy01338e#!divAbstract