Conjugated polymer modification is one of the most promising
methods for preparing TiO2-based visible-light-responsive
photocatalysts. In this article, TiO2 nanoparticles modified
by conjugated derivatives of polyisoprene (CDPIP) were prepared from
TiO2/polyisoprene nanocomposites by the bromine addition
reaction of polyisoprene and dehydrobromination reaction of the brominated
polyisoprene. The visible light photocatalytic activities of as-prepared
nanocomposites were evaluated using methyl orange as the model contaminant
and two indoor fluorescent lamps with a 400 nm cutoff filter as the
visible light source. TEM images show that a layer of CDPIP attaches
on the surface of TiO2 nanoparticles. XPS, FTIR, and Raman
spectra further reveal the conjugated structure of CDPIP. The results
of XRD, UV–vis DRS, and PL spectra show that modification
of CDPIP does not change the crystalline structure of TiO2, greatly improves the absorbance of the nanocomposites in the whole
range of visible light, and obviously reduces the recombination probability
of photogenerated electrons and holes. The photocatalytic experiments
reveal that the CDPIP-modified TiO2 nanocomposites exhibit
significantly higher photocatalytic activity than that of TiO2 (P-25) under visible light irradiation.