Phenol degradation in heterogeneous system generating singlet oxygen employing light activated electropolymerized phenothiazines

Five selected amine-derivatives of phenothiazine were electropolymerized on an ITO/glass substrate and then used in the daylight-activated process to produce in situ singlet oxygen which degrades phenol in a solution. The phenothiazines were immobilized in a simple electrochemical procedure in an acidic solution which led to the formation of an ultrathin transparent polymeric film. All films obtained on the ITO substrate including azure A (AA), azure C (AC), methylene blue (MB), toluidine blue (TBO), and thionine (Th) had a comparable surface coverage at the level of picomoles/cm(2). The activity of these materials was then compared and presented in terms of an efficiency of the phenol degradation process in an aqueous solution by photogenerated singlet oxygen. That efficiency was determined by the UV-vis spectroscopy employing a pheno1/4-aminoantipyrine complex. All the phenothiazine ultrathin polymeric films were capable of generating the singlet oxygen in the aqueous solution under daylight activation, which was used in the consecutive process of phenol degradation. The highest efficiency at a level of 51.4% and 45.4% was found for the AC/ITO and MB/ITO layers, respectively. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.