Synthesis and characterization of carbon nanotubes/titanium molybdate nanocomposite and assessment of its photocatalytic activity

In this study we have synthesized carbon nanotubes/titanium molybdate nanocomposite (CNT@Tm-NC), the structural, optical, thermal and dielectric properties of the as synthesized CNT@Tm-NC were studied. The XRD analysis ensures that CNT@Tm-NC has the nanostructure structure and confirmed that the titanium molybdate nanoparticles (NPs) were successfully incorporated in the CNT matrix. The thermal analysis (TGA) exhibited an enhanced thermal stability of the CNT@Tm-NC as compare with CNT owing to the strong interaction between the titanium molybdate NPs and CNT matrix. The energy band gaps as calculated through the Tauc relation were found to be higher in the CNT@Tm-NC. The impedance, dielectric constants (epsilon',epsilon"), dielectric loss (tan delta) and AC conductivity (sigma(ac)) were studied as the function of frequency, which have been explained by 'Maxwell Wagner Model'. Moreover, CNT@Tm-NC exhibited the promising photocatalytic activity for the photo-decoloration of the methyl orange (MO) dye under UV light irradiation. Results also showed protection of photo-decoloration of the MO dye by the disodium ethylenediaminetetraacetate dehydrate (EDTA-Na-2; C10H14N2Na2O8 center dot 2H(2)O) (hole scavenger) and tertbutyl alcohol (C4H10O) (radical scavenger) clearly suggested the implication of reactive oxygen species in the photocatalytic activity of CNT@Tm-NC. It is encouraging to conclude that CNT@Tm-NC bears the potential of it is applications in photocatalysis. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.