SrTiO3 Nanocube-Doped Polyaniline Nanocomposites with Enhanced Photocatalytic Degradation of Methylene Blue under Visible Light

The present study highlights the facile synthesis of polyaniline (PANI)-based nanocomposites doped with SrTiO3 nanocubes synthesized via the in situ oxidative polymerization technique using ammonium persulfate (APS) as an oxidant in acidic medium for the photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue dye. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV-Vis spectroscopy, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller analysis (BET) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) measurements were used to characterize the prepared nanocomposite photocatalysts. The photocatalytic efficiencies of the photocatalysts were examined by degrading methylene blue (MB) under visible light irradiation. The results showed that the degradation efficiency of the composite photocatalysts that were doped with SrTiO3 nanocubes was higher than that of the undoped polyaniline. In this study, the effects of the weight ratio of polyaniline to SrTiO3 on the photocatalytic activities were investigated. The results revealed that the nanocomposite P-Sr500 was found to be an optimum photocatalyst, with a 97% degradation efficiency after 90 min of irradiation under solar light.