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A (solvent-free) approach to metal-free photo-catalysts for methylene blue degradation

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Abstract

The hazardous industrial effluent, enriched in organic dyes, produces environmental alarms of being resistant to natural degradation processes. Therefore, the development of sustainable, and cost-effective degradation processes is a vital demand. Here, we present a simple, scalable, and cost-effective methodology to synthesize polyimides from melem and dianhydrides monomers through a solvent-free, thermal condensation approach for effective photo-catalytic dye degradation. The synthesized polyimides were systematically characterized to investigate their surface functionality, crystallinity, morphology, surface area, porosity, and elemental composition followed by their photocatalytic activity. The obtained results confirmed that polyimides derived from melem with 2,2’-bis-(3,4-dicarboxyphenyl) hexafluoropropane dianhydride (M-FDA) and 4,4’-oxydiphthalic dianhydride (M-ODPA) exhibited an efficient degradation of methylene blue up to 93 and 92%, respectively. Whereas, melem and naphthalene tetra-carboxylic dianhydride-based polyimide (M-NTDA) displayed relatively low-degradation ability after the same irradiation period of 75 min. The superior photocatalytic performances of M-FDA and M-ODPA polyimides have been attributed to their relatively low degree crystallinity, layered morphology, high nitrogen content; 26.07, 24.08%, respectively, with high pyridinic (N6) configurations; 69.48 and 64.14%, respectively; and improved surface areas of 2.6183 and 1.8441 m2g−1 with sufficient pores which offer more reactive sites for interaction with dye molecules leading to superb photocatalytic activity. Hence, it can be concluded that besides extended π network structure, photocatalysis may be improved in photocatalyst materials by improving their physicochemical characteristics. The current endeavor is a great contribution to research community for develo** suitable photocatalysts to degrade various other dyes and pollutants efficiently.

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Acknowledgements

Authors would like to acknowledge Stephenson Institute of Renewable Energy Technologies, University of Liverpool, United Kingdom for access to their research facilities for advanced characterizations of these materials. We also thankful to Nano-investigation Center at Liverpool (NiCaL) for availability of SEM.

Funding

This project was financially supported by Higher Education Commission of Pakistan under indigenous scholarship scheme (Grant No: 112-37208-2PS1-414).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, Quaid-I-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan

    Shazma Habib, Monazza Serwar & Humaira M. Siddiqi

  2. Department of Chemistry, Women University Mardan, Mardan, Pakistan

    Monazza Serwar

  3. Sustainable Energy Technologies (SET) Centre, College of Engineering, King Saud University, 800, Riyadh, 11421, Saudi Arabia

    Usman Ali Rana

  4. Department of Chemistry, COMSATS University, Islamabad, Pakistan

    Saira Arif

  5. Department of Chemistry, Stephenson Institute for Renewable Energy, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, L69 7ZF, UK

    Jose A. Coca-Clemente & Filipe Braga

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  1. Shazma Habib
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Correspondence to Humaira M. Siddiqi.

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Habib, S., Serwar, M., Rana, U.A. et al. A (solvent-free) approach to metal-free photo-catalysts for methylene blue degradation. Iran Polym J 30, 1029–1039 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13726-021-00957-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13726-021-00957-2

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