Electrochemical Synthesis of Reduced Graphene Oxide‐Wrapped Polyaniline Nanorods As An Active Nanocomposite For Improved Photocurrent Generation And Photocatalytic And Antibacterial Activities

Abstract

This study depicts the electrochemical synthesis of nanocomposites basede on Polyaniline nanorods wrap with reduced graphene oxide (PANI-rGO) on ITO substrates. Synthesis of PANI-rGO nanocomposites was elaborated by the incorporation of rGO in PANI thin films during electropolymerization in the presence of sulfuric acid. The synthesis of reduced graphene oxide was by modification on the well-known Hammer's method. The thin films nanocomposites were characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), UV–Visible and electrochemical photocurrent spectroscopy. FESEM revealed the formation of PANI nanorods with diameters between 50 and 150 nm. The XPS was employed to confirm the compositions of PANI-rGO nanocomposites. From photoelectrochemical results, the generated photocurrent was improved in the presence of rGO in PANI Nanorods. Whereas, experimental findings show that the introduction of rGO into PANI improved the photo response from 7 µA.cm-2 to 13 µA.cm-2. Integration of 3D rGO in PANI results in better photocatalytic performance for the degradation of Congo Red. The enhanced photocatalytic activity with presence of rGO revealed the good potential of PANI-GO nanocomposites for dye degradation. The effective removal of congo red up to 90% has been observed in acidic medium and is acceptable results compared to the surface area of the substrate. At optimum conditions, also the nature of the antibacterial activities has been investigated by ITO/PANI and ITO/PANI-rGO thin films, and the results have showed exhibited antibacterial activity against the growth of E.coli gram-negative bacteria.