Photocatalytic properties and electrochemical characteristic of a novel biomimetic oxygenase enzyme photocatalyst iron(II) tetrahydroxymethyl tetra(1,4-dithiin) porphyrazine for the degradation of organic pollutants

A novel photocatalyst iron(II) tetrahydoxymethyl-tetra(1,4-dithiin) porphyrazine (abbreviated as FePz(hmdtn)4) has been successfully synthesized by template method. The prepared FePz(hmdtn)4) was further characterized by UV–vis, FT-IR, 1H NMR, LC–MS, XPS. FePz(hmdtn)4 supported on an Amberlite CG-400 resin was used as a biomimetic catalyst for the activation of molecular oxygen with visible light to degrade a probe dye compound Rhodamine B (RhB) in aqueous solution with the degradation yield in 79% for 24 h. By means of cyclic voltammetry, the EHOMO and the ΔEHOMO–LUMO were obtained by comparing the CV and DPV spectra of the metal-free compound with FePz(hmdtn)4, which indicated the central Fe2+ showed strong electron donating property for activating molecular oxygen to degrade organic pollutants. The electrochemical results were further verified by the quantum chemical DPT calculation.

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► A novel biomimetic catalyst FePz(hmdtn)4 was synthesized by template method.
► FePz(hmdtn)4 was used to activate oxygen for the degradation of Rhodamine B by 79%.
► Fe2+ showed electron donating property to activate oxygen by electrochemical method.
► The results of electrochemical experiments were supported by DPT calculation.