The asymmetrical-structure of supramolecular precursor to improve internal electric field for simultaneously enhancing contaminant degradation and H2O2 production performance

• Published in: Journal of environmental chemical engineering 2022-02, Vol.10 (1), p.107123, Article 107123
• Main Authors: Pu, Yujuan, Bao, Fucheng, Wang, Dongyu, Zhang, Xindan, Guo, Zhicheng, Chen, Xianjie, Wei, Yunxia, Wang, Jun, Zhang, Qingchun
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Asymmetrical structure; Charge separation; Internal electric field; Perylene diimide
• ISSN: 2213-3437; 2213-3437
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jece.2021.107123

Asymmetric-structure perylene diimide (PDI) supramolecular photocatalysts were successfully constructed to induce robust internal electric field for efficient photocatalytic activity. Benefitting from the large dipole moment of the asymmetric-structure PDI, the internal electric field has been significantly enhanced by 8.4 times. And then the charge separation efficiency of the asymmetric-structure PDI has been dramatically improved by 2.4 times from 4.60% up to 11.22%. Thus, the asymmetric-structure PDI supramolecular presents evidently enhanced photocatalytic degradation performance, up to 4.8 times, even surpassing many reported high-activity organic photocatalysts. Meanwhile, they also exhibited a maximum 9.5-fold increase in photocatalytic hydrogen peroxide production activity. Briefly, this work throws light on enhancing the internal electric field via molecular structure modification to dramatically improve the photocatalytic performance. [Display omitted] •Asymmetric-structure PDI supramolecular photocatalysts were constructed.•The internal electric field has been significantly enhanced by 8.4 times.•The charge separation efficiency were further improved from 4.60% up to 11.22%.•The asymmetrical PDI exhibited excellent photocatalytic performance.