Photocatalytic Porous Organic Polymers for the Degradation of Recalcitrant Organic Pollutants

Abstract

Porous organic polymers have accomplished themselves as highly effective functional materials. Until today, porous organic polymers have been utilized in almost every kind of application due to their large surface area, robust structure, structural diversity, high porosity, and controllable pore size. Apart from these common features, POPs have some extra advantages over other porous materials. The pi-rich structures of POPs make them excellent light absorbers and increase the charge carrier mobility, preventing rapid photoelectron-hole recombination. This unique feature of POP makes them an excellent photocatalyst, and the photocatalytic performance is similar to or even better than conventional semiconductors and MOFs. There are lots of possibilities to design the POPs incorporating suitable light-harvesting components with variable pore structures to get the best results regarding photocatalysis. In this book chapter, we will address the strategies for fabricating POPs having photocatalytic activity toward the degradation of recalcitrant organic pollutants such as dyes, antibiotics, etc. © 2026 Elsevier B.V. All rights are reserved, including those for text and data mining, AI training, and similar technologies.