Rigid-flexible dual network hydrogel photoelectrodes for ultrafast and stable catalytic degradation of bisphenol A with minimal metal leaching

Photoelectrocatalytic (PEC) technologies provide a promising and sustainable approach for the elimination of persistent organic pollutants, but their practical deployment is limited by catalyst deactivation and metal leaching. Here, we proposed a rational design strategy to address this challenge by constructing a rigid-flexible dual network hydrogel photoelectrode (CCMPCu) for ultrafast and stable catalytic degradation of bisphenol A (BPA) with minimal metal leaching. CCMPCu was fabricated by incorporating Cu 2 O@ZIF-67 into a chemically cross-linked chitosan/cellulose nanofibril (CNF)-MXene matrix (rigid network), which was further embedded within an in situ polymerized polyaniline network (flexible network). CCMPCu exhibited a high BPA adsorption capacity of 211.1 ± 6.2 mg g -1 , ∼4× that of Cu 2 O@ZIF-67. Under visible light, CCMPCu achieved nearly complete BPA removal (∼100%) within 40 min, with a pseudo-first-order rate constant ( k = 0.0836 ± 0.0041 min -1 ), representing a ninefold enhancement over Cu 2 O@ZIF-67. CCMPCu also showed excellent durability, maintaining over 90% removal efficiency after ten consecutive cycles with negligible Cu (90% efficiency after 10 cycles; negligible leaching (Cu <5 ppb, Co <8 ppb) • Broad scope: effective against structurally diverse bisphenol analogues