PH-responsive kinematics of photocatalytic degradation of Rh B with polypyrene microspheres

Conducting polymer has emerged as an attractive class of photocatalyst for wastewater treatment under visible light and UV light irradiation. In our current work, two types of polypyrene microparticles (PPMSs) were tailored designed as a novel catalytic material for photocatalytic degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB) in aqueous solution. The degradation rate of RhB correlated with the effectiveness of respective photocatalytic processes was determined from the UV absorbance spectrum. Firstly, highly monodispersed PPMSs with an average diameter of around 1 μm were successfully synthesized from the emulsion co-polymerization of pyrene and chloromethyl methyl ether. Secondly, PPMSs remained to be chemically stable under various pH values in the solution. Moreover, the degradation rate of the types of PPMSs at different pHs values ranged from 63.2% to 98.43%. Interestingly, the degradation efficiency of PPMSs under acidic conditions (pH < 6) decreased with the increase of pH while it increased with the increase of pH under alkaline conditions (pH > 9). The degradation efficiency reached a peak under pH 7.0. Overall, PMMSs which possessed high chemical resistance against strong acid or base and high photocatalytic activities for the degradation of model organic pollutants under various pHs would provide a new alternative for wastewater treatment.