Effect of oxidizing agent on the structural, optical and photocatalytic activity of hydrothermally synthesized nanostructure polyaniline

Polyaniline nanoarchitecture synthesized by hydrothermal method attracts the attention of material scientists for its various potential applications. One of them is Photocatalytic degradation. Here, Polyaniline was synthesized hydrothermally using two types of oxidizing agent viz. FeCl3 and APS. Crystallinity and nanostructure morphology of the samples were characterized by XRD and FESEM. XRD patterns confirm the formation of Polyaniline. FESEM showed that use of two different oxidizing agent forms two different type structures i.e one showed microsphere while the other formed nanowire-like structure. FTIR spectra confirm the functional group present in the polymer chain. Photoluminescence spectra (PL) of the materials were taken at excitation wavelength 270 nm within 300-700 nm. PL spectra showed that due to the use of APS as oxidizing agent quenching is observed i.e recombination of electrons and holes becomes less than that for the FeCl3. UV-Vis absorbance spectroscopy was recorded and band gap of the prepared materials were calculated using Tauc’s relation. Decolourization efficiency of the samples was tested in visible light to check the degradation efficiency.