Highly Efficient Organic Photocatalyst with Full Visible Light Spectrum through π–π Stacking of TCNQ–PTCDI

Self-assembled TCNQ-PTCDI composite photocatalysts can not only degrade phenol at a rate of 0.154 h-1, which is 10.4 times higher than that of pure PTCDI, but also produce oxygen at a rate of ∼14 μmol·g-1·h-1 without cocatalysts. The π-π interactions between TCNQ and PTCDI result in fast transfer of carriers and reduced carrier recombination. The interaction lowers the valence band and narrows the band gap, thus leading to a stronger oxidizability and a broad spectral response (∼730 nm). Moreover, the presence of TCNQ stabilizes the composite to decrease the accumulation of negative charge, which results in an excellent stability of the composite. The high catalytic activity can potentially be utilized in the fields of environmental and energy applications.