Bifunctional Calixarene-Decorated BODIPY-based Nanoporous Organic Polymers for the Efficient Photodegradation of Aqueous Organic Pollutants

Abstract

The increasingly severe wastewater pollution from an industry that contains organic dyes and phenols urges the development of sustainable removal technology. This work reports a bifunctional nanoporous organic polymer-based photocatalyst CABP by integrating a boron-dipyrromethene (BODIPY) chain polymer and a calixarene monomer into a polymer network. The CABP photocatalyst exhibits higher photodegradation competency toward bisphenol A and methylene blue (MB) than the linear polymer FBP. Noteworthily, good recyclability and robustness of the CABP were found, highlighting the promising utility in wastewater treatment. Mechanistic investigations suggested that the discrepancy between the bisphenol A (BPA) and MB photodegradation can be attributed to the preference for generating different reactive oxygen species and the nature of the molecular interaction with the photocatalyst. This contribution demonstrates a practical approach to the design of efficient photocatalysts for wastewater purification and regeneration.

A near-infrared-II light-response BODIPY-based conjugated microporous polymer for enhanced photocatalytic degradation of cationic dyes and H2O2 production

“…These observations indicated that the post-modification of calixarene moieties not only endowed LBFD-2 with improved hydrophilicity and excellent swelling ability but also amplified its inherent photoelectrical properties. Compared to our previous work, a photocatalyst named CABP with two charge transfer channels, 19 LBFD-2 exhibited enhanced photocurrent and smaller radius of electrochemical impedance (Fig. S9, ESI†) owing to three charge transfer channels, highlighting that increased channels are beneficial for the separation and transport of carriers.…”

“…The H 2 O 2 production rate of LBFD-2 was calculated to be 2.14 mmol g −1 h −1 in air and in the absence of any sacrificial agents, demonstrating its excellent H 2 O 2 generation ability, which primarily served as the source of ˙OH for efficient photodegradation. Compared to our previous work, 19 the photocatalytic H 2 O 2 production of LBFD-2 and subsequent photodegradation efficiency towards MB were both improved likely due to a more suitable pore size and better photoelectrochemical performance by multiple charge transfer channels (Fig. S19, ESI†).…”

“…16 To overcome this challenge, post-synthetic modification of CMPs is an efficient method to control the surface functionality and microporosity of CMPs, thereby facilitating the development of efficient photocatalysts through the synergistic effect of adsorption and photocatalysis. 17–19…”