Sulfonated perylene bisimide-based conjugated organic polymer for simultaneous bisphenol A degradation and hydrogen peroxide production

Abstract

Conjugated organic polymers (COPs) constructed from carbazole and perylene bisimide exhibit excellent performance in the simultaneous degradation of bisphenol A (BPA) and photocatalytic synthesis of hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂). However, their intrinsic hydrophobicity severely limits interfacial reaction efficiency and reduces overall catalytic activity. To address this issue, in this study, sulfonic acid groups (–SO₃H) were introduced into the porous framework of PPDI-C via a facile one-pot method under ambient temperature and pressure, successfully preparing a hydrophilic COP denoted as PPDI-SO₃H. The water contact angle of PPDI-SO₃H is 0°, much lower than 110° of the parent COP (PPDI-C), realizing a significant modification from hydrophobicity to hydrophilicity. Compared with PPDI-C, PPDI-SO₃H shows improved charge separation and transfer efficiency, leading to significantly enhanced photocatalytic performance. Under air and neutral conditions, the H₂O₂ production rate of PPDI-SO₃H reaches 261 μmol h⁻¹ g⁻¹, and further increases to 941 μmol h⁻¹ g⁻¹ when BPA acts as a hole scavenger. In terms of degradation performance, PPDI-SO₃H removes more than 99% of 20 mg L⁻¹ BPA within 10 minutes and 97% of 100 mg L⁻¹ BPA within 20 minutes, outperforming most reported photocatalytic materials. In addition, the catalyst exhibits excellent cycling stability and good tolerance to pH and interfering ions, showing important engineering application potential in practical water treatment.