10.1007/s40097-020-00339-9

Composites of π-stacking materials with low-dimensional metal oxide nanoblends for photocatalytic hydrogen production

  • Kalyani Rajendran1,
  • Gurunathan Karuppasamy*1,
  1. Nano Functional Materials Lab, Department of Nanoscience and Technology, Science Campus, Alagappa University, Karaikudi, 630 003, IN

Published in Issue 27-04-2020

How to Cite

Rajendran, K., & Karuppasamy, G. (2020). Composites of π-stacking materials with low-dimensional metal oxide nanoblends for photocatalytic hydrogen production . Journal of Nanostructure in Chemistry, 10(2 (June 2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40097-020-00339-9
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Abstract

Abstract Nanoblends of conjugated materials doped with low-dimensional metal oxides employing a scalable manufacturing process are discussed. The morphology, crystal structure and photocatalytic property of the nanoblends comprising of π-stacking materials namely polyaniline (PANI), polythiophene (PTh), graphene oxide (GO) doped with metal oxide Fe–TiO 2 to form Fe–TiO 2 /PANI, Fe–TiO 2 /GO and Fe–TiO 2 /PTh nanostructures were studied in detail. The process includes wet chemical synthesis of the inorganic counterparts followed by mash blending technique to procure the low-dimensional nanoblends. The optical absorption characteristics of the above samples were studied by UV spectra. Furthermore, the samples are characterized by XRD, FTIR, SEM-EDAX and TEM analysis. The obtained nanoblends were utilized as photocatalyst for hydrogen production and a rational comparison was made with the procured Fe–TiO 2 nanoblends. The assessment of the photocatalyst was also carried out. Among the prepared nanoblends, Fe–TiO 2 /PTh has good photocatalytic activity and shows maximum efficiency of 15.83% towards photocatalytic hydrogen production which can be ascribed to increased surface area as a result of texturing attributes. The long-term stability of the photocatalyst was confirmed by the catalytic stability tests.

Keywords

  • Low-dimensional nanoblends,
  • Metal oxides,
  • Polythiophene,
  • Graphene oxide,
  • Polyaniline,
  • Photocatalyst

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