Photocatalytic degradation of thiamethoxam with a ternary organic/inorganic composite triggered by cucurbit[7]uril-block

A ternary composite (CdS@PANI/Q[7]), including the inorganic CdS semiconductor, organic semiconductor polyaniline (PANI), and the macrocyclic compound cucurbit[7]uril (Q[7]), is reached with the coordination of Q[7] to the metal cations and supramolecular encapsulation of PANI within the cavity of the macrocycle. The material is developed as a catalyst for the photocatalytic degradation of pesticide thiamethoxam in water pollution under visible-light, to achieve the removal of organic pollutants. The results suggest a high catalytic activity with the efficiency of 85% and the kinetic constant of 0.003 min −1 is reached. The proposed catalytic mechanism involved the restrained recombination of photoinduced hole-electron pairs and enhanced contact between the photocatalyst with the thiamethoxam substrate on the surface of CdS@PANI/Q[7]. The material developed in this study demonstrates potential applications for the rapid degradation of pesticides.