Photocatalytic activity of polyaniline and neutral polyaniline for degradation of methylene blue and malachite green dyes under UV Light

Abstract

A polyaniline (PANI) and neutral Polyaniline (NPANI) have been synthesized in acetonitrile-water mixture via the chemical oxidative polymerization of aniline. Scanning electron microscopy, FTIR spectra, UV-vis spectroscopy measurements were used to characterize the resulting PANI and NPANI. The photocatalytic activities of PANI and NPANI were investigated by the degradation of methylene blue (MB) and malachite green (MG) dyes in aqueous medium under UV light irradiation. MB and MG dyes completely degraded under UV light irradiation in the presence of NPANI after 60 and 75 min, respectively. The effect of dye type, irradiation time, dye concentration and photocatalyst amount on photocatalytic performance of PANI and NPANI have been examined under UV light irradiation. Three kinetic models have proposed for photocatalytic degradation of dyes by using PANI and NPANI under UV light illumination. This work explores the easy way to synthesize efficient PANI and NPANI polymers to degrade organic compound under both UV and visible light irradiations.