Rapid photogenerated charge carrier transfer pathway of Fe-O-Fe bridge in iron phthalocyanine enhanced photo-Fenton remediation of multi-pollutant
Zhaoyi Mo, Hong Miao, Zhen Wei, Yongfa Zhu
Abstract
Organic semiconductor materials show great potential in optoelectronic conversion due to their tunable electronic properties and wide spectral absorption, yet charge transfer is limited by disordered aggregation. In this study, highly ordered crystalline self-assembled PcFe(II) nanorods (Self-PcFe) with Fe-O-Fe bridges were developed using a sulfuric acid exfoliation method, enabling efficient and rapid photogenerated charge transfer. Characterization analysis verified the high crystallinity and Fe-O-Fe linkages, which created directional electron transfer pathways. Self-PcFe showed photocatalytic rate constants for Cr(VI) reduction and phenol degradation that were 5.00 times and 13.76 times higher, respectively, than those of commercial PcFe(II). In multi-pollutant systems, the Self-PcFe-mediated Photo-Fenton system effectively utilizes Fe-centered Fe(II)/Fe(III) cycling, demonstrating exceptional multi-pollutant removal efficiency, with nearly all pollutants removed within 60 min (phenol was completely degraded within 20 min). Performance augmentation is attributed to highly crystallinity and accelerated charge transport channels. Moreover, the system achieved high-efficiency COD elimination in practical livestock wastewater, with near-total pollutant degradation under natural solar irradiation and sustained stability across five consecutive cycles. This study establishes a new paradigm for engineering highly crystalline organic supramolecular photocatalysts with ultrafast charge transfer capabilities.