title: Visible-light active conducting polymer nanostructures with superior photocatalytic activity.
abstract: The development of visible-light responsive photocatalysts would permit more efficient use of solar energy, and thus would bring sustainable solutions to many environmental issues. Conductive polymers appear as a new class of very active photocatalysts under visible light. Among them poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) is one of the most promising conjugated polymer with a wide range of applications. PEDOT nanostructures synthesized in soft templates via chemical oxidative polymerization demonstrate unprecedented photocatalytic activities for water treatment without the assistance of sacrificial reagents or noble metal co-catalysts and turn out to be better than TiO2 as benchmark catalyst. The PEDOT nanostructures exhibit a narrow band gap (E = 1.69 eV) and are characterized by excellent ability to absorb light in visible and near infrared region. The novel PEDOT-based photocatalysts are very stable with cycling and can be reused without appreciable loss of activity. Interestingly, hollow micrometric vesicular structures of PEDOT are not effective photocatalysts as compared to nanometric spindles suggesting size and shape dependent photocatalytic properties. The visible-light active photocatalytic properties of the polymer nanostructures present promising applications in solar light harvesting and broader fields.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Chimie Physique, UMR 8000-CNRS, Bât. 349, Université Paris-Sud, Université Paris-Saclay, 91405 Orsay, France.
authors.forename: Srabanti
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ghosh
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Chimie Physique, UMR 8000-CNRS, Bât. 349, Université Paris-Sud, Université Paris-Saclay, 91405 Orsay, France.
authors.forename: Natalie Amoin
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Kouame
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Chimie Physique, UMR 8000-CNRS, Bât. 349, Université Paris-Sud, Université Paris-Saclay, 91405 Orsay, France.|Département CASER, Ecole SITI, Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers, CNAM, 75141 Paris Cedex 03, France.
authors.forename: Samy
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Remita
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire Charles Coulomb (L2C), UMR 5221 CNRS-Université de Montpellier, Montpellier, France.
authors.forename: Laurence
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ramos
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Physicochimie des Polymères et des Interfaces (LPPI), Université de Cergy-Pontoise, 95031 Cergy-Pontoise Cedex, France.
authors.forename: Fabrice
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Goubard
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Physicochimie des Polymères et des Interfaces (LPPI), Université de Cergy-Pontoise, 95031 Cergy-Pontoise Cedex, France.
authors.forename: Pierre-Henri
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Aubert
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Chimie Physique, UMR 8000-CNRS, Bât. 349, Université Paris-Sud, Université Paris-Saclay, 91405 Orsay, France.
authors.forename: Alexandre
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dazzi
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Chimie Physique, UMR 8000-CNRS, Bât. 349, Université Paris-Sud, Université Paris-Saclay, 91405 Orsay, France.
authors.forename: Ariane
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Deniset-Besseau
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Chimie Physique, UMR 8000-CNRS, Bât. 349, Université Paris-Sud, Université Paris-Saclay, 91405 Orsay, France.|CNRS, Laboratoire de Chimie Physique, UMR 8000, 91405 Orsay, France.
authors.forename: Hynd
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Remita