Facile metal-free synthesis of pyrrolo[3,2-b]pyrrolyl-based conjugated microporous polymers for high-performance photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants

Abstract

Conjugated microporous polymers (CMPs) outperform other materials in a variety of ways due to their intrinsic topological features, high chemical stabilities, and tunable pores, and they can accept and transfer light energy via their delocalized backbone. In this paper we report the efficient gram-scale syntheses of pyrrolo[3,2-b]pyrrolyl-based conjugated microporous polymers (Py-CMPs) through polycyclizations of aryl aldehydes, aryl anilines, and a β-diketone, without using any metal catalysts. The as-prepared Py-CMPs exhibited high adsorption capacities and excellent performance in the photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants, as represented by the organic dye rhodamine B. In addition, the Py-CMPs were easy to recycle and reuse, retaining large degrees of adsorption and high rates of photodegradation of RhB. Accordingly, this synthetic approach allows the scalable, metal-free, and facile syntheses of highly efficient adsorbent and photocatalytic CMP materials. Furthermore, by selecting appropriate aryl aldehydes and aryl anilines, it should be possible to obtain a range of polymeric semiconductors for various photocatalytic applications.