Photocatalytic degradation of polypropylene film using TiO2-based nanomaterials under solar irradiation

The aim of this research is the reduction of environmental pollution by degrading polypropylene (PP) film in an eco-friendly way via TiO2-based nanomaterials (NMs) under solar irradiation. PP was mingled with TiO2-based NMs; TiO2 nanoparticles (NPs) and its nanocomposite, (TiO2-reduced Graphene Oxide: TiO2-rGO) individually by a facile solution casting technique to comparatively study its photodegradation before and after 130 h of solar irradiation in triplicate manner. The photocatalytic degradation of PP, by TiO2-based NMs, is affirmed by various advanced characterization tools such as XRD, FT-IR, FE-SEM and ToF-SIMS. XRD depicts the phase transformation. FT-IR confirms the appearance of carbonyl group with higher carbonyl index leading to efficient photodegradation of PP by TiO(2)rGO nanocomposite as compared to TiO2 NPs. Microstructural investigation by FE-SEM reveals the augmented degradation of PP matrix on the surface of TiO2-rGO nanocomposite through the formation of cavity (diameter: similar to 500 nm) at the interface. The prominent peaks in ToF-SIMS affirm generation of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) followed by photodegradation. The mechanism of enhancement of photocatalytic degradation by TiO2-rGO nanocomposite has also been presented in detail. The obtained degraded fragments of PP, thus, are biodegradable and facilitate to reduce the environmental pollution by this eco-friendly route. (C) 2017 Published by Elsevier Ltd.