Real roles of perylene diimides for improving photocatalytic activity.

Three novel visible-light-driven composite photocatalysts: five-membered O-heterocyclic annulated perylene diimide doped TiO (PDI-1/TiO), 1-phenol-,'-dicyclohexyl perylene-3,4,9,10-tetracarboxylic diimide doped TiO (PDI-2/TiO), and ,'-dicyclohexyl perylene diimide doped TiO (PDI-3/TiO), were synthesized using a hydrothermal synthesis method. The effects of introducing PDIs with different structures into TiO were evaluated by assaying the photodegradation rate of Methylene Blue (MB). The photoactivities of the PDI-1/TiO and PDI-2/TiO catalysts were better than that of PDI-3/TiO.