Heterostructured Perylene Diimide (PDI) Supramolecular Nanorods with SnO2 Quantum Dots for Enhanced Visible‐Light Photocatalytic Activity and Stability

Abstract A novel SnO 2 QDs (quantum dots)/PDI heterojunction photocatalyst was successfully constructed by a simple in‐situ compounded method and exhibited highly enhanced photocatalytic performance and long‐term stability under visible light irradiation. The results of ISI‐XPS and AFM‐KPFM revealed that the effective photo‐generated electrons transferred from PDI supramolecular nanorods to closely attached to SnO 2 QDs, which was driven by a giant built‐in electric field across this hetero‐interface, thus highly improved the migration and separation of photo‐generated carriers. Importantly, we have proved for the first time that the formation of heterojunction can effectively hinder the generation of PDI anion radicals (PDI .− ), thereby realized improved photocatalytic stability of PDI supramolecular aggregates by reducing the dissociation of PDI supramolecular caused by electrostatic repulsion interaction between PDI .− units. Furthermore, the established high structure and morphology stability also supported its excellent photocatalytic stability.