Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)/zinc oxide (PEDOT/ZnO) nanocomposites were prepared by a simple solid-state heating method, in which the content of ZnO was varied from 10 to 20 wt%. The structure and morphology of the composites were characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) absorption spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The photocatalytic activities of the composites were investigated by the degradation of methylene blue (MB) dye in aqueous medium under UV light and natural sunlight irradiation. The FTIR, UV-vis, and XRD results showed that the composites were successfully synthesized, and there was a strong interaction between PEDOT and nano-ZnO. The TEM results suggested that the composites were a mixture of shale-like PEDOT and less aggregated nano-ZnO. The photocatalytic activity results indicated that the incorporation of ZnO nanoparticles in composites can enhance the photocatalytic efficiency of the composites under both UV light and natural sunlight irradiation, and the highest photocatalytic efficiency under UV light (98.7%) and natural sunlight (96.6%) after 5 h occurred in the PEDOT/15wt%ZnO nanocomposite.

Poly(3,4-propylenedioxy-2,2′:5′,2″-terthiophene)/TiO2 and poly(3,4-(2,2-dimethylenepropylenedioxy)-2,2′:5′,2″-terthiophene)/TiO2 nanocomposites were synthesized by a simple solid-state method. Additionally, the poly(3,4-propylenedioxy thiophene)/TiO2 and poly(3,4-2,2-dimethylenepropylenedioxythiophene)/TiO2 nanocomposites were synthesized in a similar manner for comparison. The structure and morphology were characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) absorption spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The photocatalytic activities of the nanocomposites were examined through the degradation processes of a methylene blue (MB) solution under UV light and sunlight irradiation. The results of FTIR and UV-Vis spectra showed that the composites were successfully synthesized by solid-state method and the poly(3,4-propylenedioxy-2,2′:5′,2″-terthiophene)/TiO2 and poly(3,4-(2,2-dimethylenepropylenedioxy)-2,2′:5′,2″-terthiophene)/TiO2 nanocomposite had a higher oxidation degree and conjugation length than others. The results also indicated that the TiO2 had no effect on the crystallinity of composites, but was well embedded in the polymer matrix. Additionally, the highest degradation efficiency of 90.5% occurred in the case of the poly(3,4-propylenedioxy-2,2′:5′,2″-terthiophene)/TiO2 nanocomposite.

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Poly(3 0 ,4 0 -ethylenedioxy-2,2 0 :5 0 ,2 00 -terthiophene)/ZnO(poly(TET)/ZnO) composites with the ratio of poly(TET) and nano-ZnO from 3:1 to 1:3 were synthesized by hand grinding and ball milling methods, respectively. The photocatalytic activities of the composites were examined through the degradation processes of methylene blue (MB) solution under UV light irradiation, and the possible mechanism for the photocatalytic activity enhancement by synergetic effects between nano-ZnO and poly(TET) was proposed. The results showed that the strong interactions between the poly(TET) and nano-ZnO occurred in the case of ball milling method. The results also proved that the crystallinity of ZnO was not disturbed in both of methods, and the nano-ZnO was uniformly distributed in polymer matrix in the case of ball milling method. The comparative studies showed that the addition of the nano-ZnO could enhance the photocatalytic activities of the composites. The highest degradation efficiency (100%) at 3 h under UV light irradiation occurred in the case of poly(TET)/ZnO(1:1) synthesized by ball milling method. Furthermore, the nanocompsosite displayed higher photocatalytic activity than nano-ZnO, which was due to the holes (h 1 ) transferring from the valence band of ZnO to the polymer backbone and the adsorption of MB molecules in polymer matrix via p-p conjugation between MB and aromatic regions of the poly(TET). POLYM. COMPOS., 36:1597-1605