A Bioinspired Photocatalysis and Electrochemiluminescence Scaffold for Simultaneous Degradation and In Situ Evaluation

• Published in: Advanced functional materials 2022-08, Vol.32 (31), p.n/a
• Main Authors: Cao, Yue, Wu, Ru, Zhou, Yuanzhen, Jiang, Dechen, Zhu, Wenlei
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Antibiotics; Biomimetics; Carbon nitride; covalent organic frameworks; Crystal structure; Crystallinity; Electrochemiluminescence; Heterojunctions; Materials science; Nanospheres; Photocatalysis; Photodegradation; Photosynthesis; Scaffolds; self‐responsiveness
• ISSN: 1616-301X; 1616-3028
• DOI: 10.1002/adfm.202203005

Nanostructured scaffolds that optimize self‐responsive ability, visible light harvesting, redox center distribution, and species shuttling porosity have been mimicked much less often, especially using organic crystalline substances. Inspired by a natural photosynthetic thylakoid membrane, a synthetic strategy with general applicability to construct a hollow organic crystalline nanosphere by orderly hybridizing imine‐linked covalent organic frameworks (COFs) with polymeric hollow g‐C3N4 nanosphere is proposed. As a proof‐of‐concept application, in a homemade microreaction cell, these hollow organic nanospheres are shown to function as robust scaffolds, heterojunction shells, and light‐harvesting antennas, enabling excellent visible‐light‐driven photocatalysis for the almost complete degradation of tetracycline, a gravely residual antibiotic worldwide. Significantly, a new electrochemiluminescence (ECL) technology derived from biomimetic self‐responsiveness is developed for in situ evaluation of the photodegradation process, accessing kinetics and other relevant parameters at an extremely low‐abundance target, which remains challenging to date, albeit highly desirable. This work provides a general synthetic strategy for obtaining COFs‐derived hollow crystalline organic nanospheres for promising photocatalysis applications and offers a new perspective on the development of ECL technology for simultaneous analysis and treatment of actual sewage. Photocatalysis–electrochemiluminescence, bioinspired hollow organic crystalline scaffolds derived from covalent organic frameworks that optimize self‐responsive ability, visible light harvesting, redox center distribution, and species shuttling porosity are mimicked, enabling both the visible‐light‐driven photocatalysis and in situ electrochemiluminescence evaluation.