Enhanced photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants mediated by Zn(II)-porphyrin/poly(acrylic acid) hybrid microparticles

Herein, Zn(II)-porphyrin/poly(acrylic acid) (Zn(II)[email protected]) hybrid microparticles were synthesized to act as catalyst for the photodegradation of the aqueous organic pollutants under artificial visible light or natural sunlight. The microparticles were characterized by different analytical and microscopic techniques, which showed that the immobilized metalloporphyrin affects the final properties of the hybrid microparticles. Moreover, photodegradation experiments revealed that the Zn(II)[email protected] microparticles had enhanced photocatalytic activity towards the degradation of methylene blue (MB), methyl orange (MO) and nitrobenzene (NB) as compared to the “free” Zn(II)Pr using artificial visible light as the light source. Under mild experimental conditions (pH 7.0 and room temperature), all organic pollutants tested were degraded with rate constants varying from 3.0 × 10−2 to 5.0 × 10−2 min−1, according to the organic pollutant, and achieving a COD removal higher than 96 %. The CG-MS data showed that the degradation of MB, MO, and NB to the simplest molecules (CO2 and H2O) confirming the high efficiency of the process, which promotes the mineralization of pollutants with minimum electricity consumption. The synthesized Zn(II)[email protected] microparticles also performed well in cyclic runs, without leaching the immobilized Zn(II)Pr. Additionally, it has been found that the microparticles also exhibits a remarkable photocatalytic activity under natural sunlight. All these features suggest that the Zn(II)[email protected] microparticles are promise catalysts for photodegradation of aqueous organic pollutants in practical applications.