Ultrahigh-Strength Textile Fiber-Supported Schiff Base Copper Complexes for Photocatalytic Degradation of Methyl Orange

An ultrahigh-strength textile fiber-supported Schiff base copper complex PEEK-SB@Cu(II) was prepared by chloromethylation and amination of a commercially available poly(ether ether ketone) (PEEK) fiber, followed by Schiff base functionalization and copper acetate chelation treatment. The fibers derived from the preparation stages and catalytic runs were characterized using diverse techniques to investigate these changes. Moreover, the PEEK-SB@Cu(II) incorporated with NaBH₄ presented effective photocatalytic activities for fast and exhaustive degradation of methyl orange in an aqueous solution with a degradation rate of >99% in no more than 2 min. The corresponding influencing factors were screened to confirm that the degradation process was based on the pseudo-first-order reaction kinetic mode, and a synergistic mechanism was proposed to interpret the photocatalytic process. Furthermore, the recyclability and stability of PEEK-SB@Cu(II) were evaluated over 5 runs and long-term storage for at least 5 months, and the practicability of this methodology in the spinning basket reactor was further verified.