Degradation of Acid Orange 8 through Photocatalysis in the Presence of ZnO/polyaniline Nanocomposite

The current study focused on the photocatalytic degradation of acid orange 8 (AO8) from textile wastewater in the presence of a ZnO/polyaniline (ZnO/PANi) nanocomposite. A ZnO/PANi nanocomposite was created using the sol gel method. The loading of ZnO nanosheets on the surface of the PANi layer was studied in terms of morphology and the structure of nanocomposite. The optical band gap of PANi, ZnO, and ZnO/PANi nanocomposite were estimated to be 2.39, 2.62, and 3.07 eV, respectively, indicating that the optical band gap of ZnO/PANi nanocomposite decreased toward ZnO due to the introduction of PANi. EIS studies revealed that the charge transfer resistance of ZnO/PANi nanocomposite was significantly lower than that of pure PANi and ZnO. The photocatalytic treatment of 200 ml of 10 mg/L AO8 solution revealed that total AO8 degradation occurred after 60, 55, and 45 minutes of UV light illumination, and complete AO8 degradation occurred after 70, 60, and 35 minutes of visible light illumination using PANi, ZnO, andZnO/PANi nanocomposite, respectively. Because of its narrow band gap and photoactivation under visible light, the degradation efficiency of ZnO/PANi nanocomposite under visible light illumination was higher than under UV light illumination. The photodegradation performance of PANi, ZnO,and ZnO/PANi nanocomposite for degradation of AO8 solution from real samples (textile wastewater) was investigated, and the results showed that ZnO/PANi nanocomposite has an efficient photodegradation performance for treatment of AO8 in textile wastewater.