Preparation, characterization, and photocatalytic activity of polyaniline/ZnO nanocomposite

Abstract

Polyaniline (PANI)/zinc oxide (ZnO) nanocomposite was synthesized by in-situ polymerization. X-ray diffraction patterns, UV-visible spectroscopy, SEM, and TEM were used to characterize the composition and structure of the nanocomposite. Nanostructured PANI/ZnO composite was used as photocatalyst in the photodegradation of methylene blue dye molecules in aqueous solution. The photocatalytic activity of PANI/ZnO nanocomposite under UV and visible light irradiation was evaluated and was compared with that of ZnO nanoparticles. ZnO/ PANI core-shell nanocomposite had greater photocatalytic activity than ZnO nanoparticles and pristine PANI under visible light irradiation. According to these results, application of PANI as a shell on the surface of ZnO nanoparticles causes the enhanced photocatalytic activity of the PANI/ZnO nanocomposite. Also UVvisible spectroscopy studies showed that the absorption peak for PANI/ZnO nanocomposite has a red shift toward visible wavelengths compared with the ZnO nanoparticles and pristine PANI. The effect of different operating conditions on the photocatalytic performance of PANI/ZnO nanocomposite in the photodegradation of methylene blue dye molecules was investigated in a bath experimental setup.

Photocatalytic activities of polyaniline-modified TiO2 and ZnO under visible light: an experimental and modeling study

“…The experimental results obtained in this study are in agreement with previous reports on the photocatalytic reactions of PANI/TiO 2 and PANI/ZnO (Salem et al 2009;Sarmah and Kumar 2011;Eskizeybek et al 2012;Olad and Nosrati 2012). The schematic of the mechanism of photocatalytic degradation of dye using polymeric nanocomposites is presented Fig.…”

Photo-catalytic Removal of Methyl Orange Dye by Polyaniline Modified ZnO using Visible Radiation

“…This may be because of interactions between PANI chains and ZnO nanoparticles which cause easy charge transfer from PANI to ZnO via hydrogen bonding. Compared with neat ZnO, the absorption of PANI modified ZnO sample increases over the whole range of visible light whereas decreases in the UV range (Olad and Nosrati, 2011). According to these results, the synthesized PANI/ZnO nanocomposite that shows shift of absorption peak in the visible region, it was photoactivated by visible light irradiation compared to ZnO photocatalyst nanoparticles which are photoactivated under harmful UV light irradiation.…”

“…A typical oxidative polymerization method was adopted for polymerization of aniline in the presence of ZnO nanoparticles (Olad and Nosrati, 2011). 0.9313 g of ZnO powder was added into 20 mL aqueous solution of 0.01 mol aniline monomer and 0.01 mol hydrochloric acid.…”

“…The degradation or decolorization efficiency of MeO solution under visible light irradiation using pristine PANI and PANI/ZnO nanocomposite were 38% and 81.3% at 2 hours. This may be because in case of PANI/ZnO, there is efficient charge separation of electron and hole pairs in the excited states that prevents recombination of charge pairs for a longer time under visible radiation (Olad and Nosrati, 2011). , ZnO, PANI and PANI/ZnO =1.50 gmL -1 , pH = 6).…”

Enhancement of photocatalytic properties of transitional metal oxides using conducting polymers: A mini review

“…PANI revealed a with a band gap of 2.81 eV, (narrower than 3.3 eV of ZnO) and was therefore able to sensitize ZnO leading to efficient photocatalytic activity. Olad and Nosrati (2012) also prepared PANI/ZnO nanocomposites via in-situ polymerization method for studying the photodegradation of MB dye. PANI core-shell nanocomposites were synthesized that showed higher photocatalytic activity than pristine ZnO nanoparticles and PANI under visible light irradiation.…”