Poly (heptazine imide) nanocrystal for hydrogen peroxide evolution in the dark by accumulating photo-generated electrons
Song Kou, Lian Shu, Xiaodong Xie, Wei Ren, Jin Yu, Jiahui Bao, Honghui Ou, Guidong Yang
Abstract
Organic conjugated polymers have received extensive attention due to their unique electronic properties. However, there have been relatively few reports on the dark photocatalytic reactions utilizing organic conjugated polymers. Herein, we report the successful synthesis of an organic conjugated polymer based on poly (heptazine imide) nanocrystals (CNNCs) for H 2 O 2 evolution and biomedical applications using a simple salt molten method and sonication–centrifugation process. The results show that these colloid CNNCs have the characteristics of photogenerated electrons accumulation and realize dark photocatalysis with high reducibility under visible light irradiation. Notably, these accumulating photogenerated electrons can reduce O 2 in darkness to produce H 2 O 2 . In addition, cytotoxicity tests were conducted and it was found that H 2 O 2 produced under dark conditions could oxidize L-arginine (L-Arg) to NO, which effectively killed tumors in the dark. This work provides an important strategy to construct organic conjugated semiconductor nanocrystals and applying them to future energy and biomedical fields.