Nanoporous Conducting Covalent Organic Polymer (COP) Nanostructures as Metal-Free High Performance Visible-Light Photocatalyst for Water Treatment and Enhanced CO2 Capture

The use of metal-free diacetylene based polymers to resolve environmental problems is an emerging field of research interest. In this study, two dipeptide functionalized diacetylene based compounds were synthesized. Compound 1 self-assembles to form organogels under certain conditions. Exposure of UV light irradiation on organogel results in the formation of one-dimensional polydiacetylene based conjugated nanoporous covalent organic polymer (PDA-COP 1) nanostructures that demonstrate significant recyclable photocatalytic dye degradation and substantial CO2 capture ability. Under visible light irradiation, 92% methyl orange degradation is achieved in the presence of PDA-COP 1 after 120 min without the support of any sacrificial reagents or precious metal cocatalysts. Remarkably, surface area is tuned from 0.001 m2 g–1 (compound 1) to 260.484 m2 g–1 for the light-induced developed nanoporous covalent organic polymer (PDA-COP 1). In addition, CO2 uptake by PDA-COP 1 is increased by 2.45 times more than the CO2 uptake by the respective monomeric compound 1.