The present study reports the synthesis
of polycarbazole (PCz)-decorated
TiO
2
nanohybrids via in situ chemical polymerization of
carbazole monomers in TiO
2
dispersions. The ratio of the
polymer in the nanohybrid varied between 0.5 and 2 wt %. The synthesized
nanohybrids were characterized using infrared and diffuse reflectance
spectroscopies, whereas the morphology was analyzed using X-ray diffraction
(XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) techniques. XRD revealed
changes in the peak corresponding to the
d
(001) plane
of TiO
2
owing to the interaction between the two components.
TEM confirmed the formation of PCz-decorated nanohybrids. Amido Black
10B (AB-10B) was chosen as a model dye for the degradation studies.
Sonophotocatalytic degradation of the dye was studied by varying the
catalyst and dye concentrations. Results showed that PCz/TiO
2
nanohybrids exhibited a complete degradation of AB-10B dye within
a short span of 60–90 min, which was faster than pure TiO
2
and the reported decorated TiO
2
nanohybrids synthesized
by other authors. The degraded dye fragments were identified using
liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LCMS). By varying
the loading of PCz in TiO
2
, the nanohybrids could be tuned
to achieve visible light-driven degradation.
Although several photocatalytic materials have been discovered, developing an efficient visible light photocatalyst is still a great challenge in the photocatalysis field, because the existing inorganic semiconductors are only active in the ultraviolet (UV) range. With the aim to enhance the photocatalytic activity of CoFe 2 O 4 in the visible region, the present preliminary study reports the synthesis of nanocomposites of CoFe 2 O 4 /poly(o-phenylenediamine) nanohybrid. The structure of the synthesized nanohybrid was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analyses. Photocatalytic activity of the nanohybrid was investigated using Malachite Green (MG) as a model dye. Results revealed that enhanced photocatalytic activity was achieved in the visible range, because of the generation of holes in the narrow band gap of CoFe 2 O 4 via sensitization with poly(o-phenylenediamine). A plausible pathway and mechanism for the photocatalytic degradation of Malachite Green (MG) is also discussed.
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