Efficient Photocatalytic Water Purification Through Novel Janus-Nanomicelles with Long-Lived Charge Separation Properties

Abstract

Although the design of photocatalysts incorporating donor–acceptor units has garnered significant attention for its potential to enhance the efficiency of the photocatalysis process, the primary bottleneck lies in the challenge of generating long-lived charge separation states during exciton separation. Therefore, a novel Janus-nanomicelles photocatalyst is developed using carbazole (Cz) as the donor unit, perylene-3,4,9,10-tetracarboxydiimide (PDI) with long-excited state as the acceptor unit and polyethylene glycol (PEG) as the hydrophilic segment through ROMP polymerization. After optimizing the ratio, Cz₁₉-PDI₁₈-PEG₁₀ rapidly adsorbs bisphenol A (BPA) within 10 s through π–π interaction, hydrogen-bonding interaction, and hydrophobic interaction between BPA and hydrophobic blocks when exposed to aqueous humor and efficiently photodegrades BPA (50 ppm) within 120 min for water purification purposes due to its long-lived charge separation state and achieving the highest reported efficiency so far. Mechanistic studies have shown that this excellent performance of Cz₁₉-PDI₁₈-PEG₁₀ can be attributed to synergistic interactions between highly efficient adsorption capacity and long-lived charge separation states during photocatalysis. This novel Janus-nanomicelles design strategy holds promise as an effective candidate for water purification.