A novel Strategy of Lock-in Effect between Conjugated Polymer and TiO₂ towards Dramatic Enhancement of Photocatalytic Activity under Visible Light.

ABSTRACT: To design novel conjugated polymers and improve interfacial interaction with semiconductor is one of directions to develop high-efficient photocatalysts with harvesting photons and boosting catalytic activities. Herein, two novel linear conjugated polymers poly[(thiophene-ethylene-thiophene)-thiophene] (PTET-T) and poly[(thiophene-ethylene-thiophene)-thiophene-3-carboxylic acid] (PTET-T-COOH) were successfully synthesized by a simple Stille coupling reaction. Their heterojunction with TiO₂, i.e, PTET-T/TiO₂ (C1) and PTET-T-COOH/TiO₂ (C2), exhibited outstanding photocatalytic activity for degrading Rhodamine B, methylene blue and tetracycline. The energetic "lock-in effect" between PTET-T-COOH and TiO₂ through carboxyl groups and hydroxyl groups interaction has been proved to greatly improve the interface charge transfer ability and suppress the electron-hole recombination in PTET-T-COOH/TiO₂. Thus, by regulating the dosage of polymers, the 15% PTET-T-COOH/TiO₂ showed the optimized photocatalytic activity with excellent chemical stability, and its kinetic rate constant was determined to be 41.7 times of that of TiO₂. This work provided a new effective strategy of designed and explored organic semiconductor-inorganic heterojunction photocatalysts with broaden absorption, repeatability and high-charge mobility.

SUBMITTER: Liu L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7162871 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature