Synthesis and characterization of conducting polymer based nanocomposite and their photocatalytic activity for degradation of methylene blue dye

International Conference on Polymer Science & Engineering

August 22-24, 2016 New Orleans, USA

Arshid Numan, Syed Shahabuddin, K Ramesh and S Ramesh

University of Malaya, Malaysia

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Material Sci Eng

Abstract :

Presently, one of the most essential issues in pollution control from an environmental and biological point of view is the removal of toxic chemicals from waste water. Photocatalysis has appeared as one of the most promising techniques amongst the wide variety of approaches to degrade menacing waste materials, specifically organic compounds, to less noxious or less harmful materials. Recently, conducting polymers with extend �?-conjugated electron systems have been extensively explored for their electronic and optoelectronic properties as photocatalysts materials. The present investigation highlights the facile synthesis of Polyaniline (PANI) based nanocomposites doped with metal oxide nanoparticles such as Co3O4, SrTiO3 etc. via in-situ oxidative polymerization technique using ammonium persulfate (APS) as an oxidant in acidic medium for the photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue dye. Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA), X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV-vis spectroscopy, BET and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) measurements were used to characterize the prepared nanocomposite photocatalysts. The photocatalytic efficiencies of the photocatalysts were examined by degrading Methylene Blue (MB) under UV light and visible-light irradiation. The results showed that the degradation efficiency of the composite photocatalysts that were doped with metal oxide nanoparticles were higher than that of the undopedpolyaniline. In summary, the studies demonstrate the facile and distinctive route to synthesize metal oxide doped polyaniline nanocomposite with large specific surface area, uniform nanopore distribution, and good photocatalytic performance, through an in situ oxidative polymerisation procedure. Metal oxide nanoparticles doped into the matrix of PANI homopolymer demonstrated enhanced photocatalytic activity indicating the synergistic phenomenon between the conducting polymer and the semiconducting metal oxides. The proposed technique may be used for the synthesis of numerous nanocomposites materials, with other conducting polymers addressing the present day issues of environmental pollution caused by various organic pollutants.

Biography :

Email: numan.arshed@yahoo.com