Preparation and Properties of New Carbazole Methacrylates and Their Polymer Composites with ZnO for Photocatalysis and Sensing Applications

New monomers (2-(9H-carbazol-9-yl) ethyl methacrylate and 2-(9H-carbazol-9-yl) ethyl methacryloyloxyethyl, 1,6(dicarbamate) 2,2,4 (trimethyl hexane) were synthesized and employed for preparing hybrid composites with ZnO (0.5-2 wt.%). The structural and morphological characterization was performed by H-1 (C-13)-NMR, FTIR, fluorescence and UV/vis spectroscopy, TEM, SEM/EDAX, and X-ray analysis. Photopolymerization kinetics showed that photoreactivity of the monomers is dependent on the formulation composition, ZnO flower-like acting as catalyst or initiator in addition Irgacure 819. The effects of Nile Red on the hybrid films suggested that such materials could function as fluorescent chemosensors of turn on (fluorescence increased with 85% at 5 x 10(-7) M dye) or as photocatalyst for dyes.