Highly Efficient Photocatalytic Degradation of Amido Black 10B Dye Using Polycarbazole-Decorated TiO₂ Nanohybrids

Abstract

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.

Synergistic Performance of Sonolytically Synthesized Poly(1‐naphthylamine)/TiO2 Nanohybrids: Degradation Studies of Amido Black‐10B Dye

“…The UV–visible spectrum of AB‐10B dye showed an intense peak in the visible region at 618 nm associated with azo chromophore and two small peaks at 226 and 318 nm correlated to π ‐ π *transitions of benzene rings (given in supporting information Figure S4). To determine the optimum amount of catalyst concentration, PNA: TiO 2 photocatalyst (50 mg 300 mg) was added to 50 ppm and 100 ppm AB‐10B dye solutions.…”

“…X‐Ray diffraction patterns of the nanohybrid were recorded on Philips PW 3710 powder diffractometer (Ni‐filtered Cu‐K α radiations) as per reported method ,. The morphology of the nanohybrids was examined via Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) using TECNAI 200 Kv TEM (Fei, Electron Optics).…”

“…The thermal stability of PNA and PNA: A TiO 2 nanohybrid was investigated using TGA instrument thermal analyzer STA 6000, Perkin Elmer as per reported method …”

“…Liquid chromatography‐mass spectroscopy (LC–MS) was conducted using a Waters XEVO G2‐S TOF, USA mass spectrometer as per reported method …”

“…To overcome this problem, researchers have focused on designing conducting polymer sensitized semiconductor oxides which have shown improved photocatalytic performance Conducting polymers such as polyaniline (PANI), polypyrrole (Ppy), polythiophene (PTh), poly(1‐naphthylamine) (PNA), poly(o‐toluidine) (POT), polycarbazole (PCz) are well investigated for their excellent photo‐physical, photo‐chemical, electrochemical and structural properties. When combined with semiconductor nanoparticles, they act as charge reservoirs and prevent the recombination of photogenerated electron/hole pairs …”