Sustainable Quercetin-based Porous Organic Polymer for Efficient Rhodamine B dye Removal and Phytotoxicity Assessment

Environmental sustainability has become a critical concern in the modern era, necessitating the development of innovative materials for effective water pollution remediation. The introduction of porous materials with high surface area, stability, and tailored properties has become an emerging era in this scenario. This study explores the synthesis of a quercetin-based novel porous organic polymer (QPOP) via Friedel-Crafts alkylation reaction for efficient Rhodamine B dye adsorption. Thus, synthesized QPOP exhibited a high surface area of 1172 m²/g with a pore volume of 1.024 cm³/g and unveiled an exceptional adsorption capacity of 499.52 mg/g for Rhodamine B dye removal. The adsorption process was fitted with the Freundlich isotherm, and the pseudo-second order kinetics model indicates a multilayer chemisorption nature of adsorption. The thermodynamics studies revealed that the adsorption process is spontaneous and endothermic. The mechanism of adsorption was explained by H-bonding, electrostatic and π-π interactions. Furthermore, recyclability studies were assessed for six consecutive cycles with excellent reusability up to 85 % efficiency. The phytotoxicity assessments using mung bean seeds confirmed low toxicity of the treated dye solution. This research contributes to the ongoing efforts to develop advanced materials for environmental remediation and aligns with the global need for clean water solutions.