Synthesis of CC/PANI/TiO2 Composite Material and Its Photocatalytic Performance

Polyaniline was firstly grown on carbon cloth by in-situ polymerization. The final composite material of CC/PANI/TiO2 was then synthesized via solvothermal method, during which the tetrabutyl titanate was hydrolyzed to form TiO2 nanosheets on the carbon cloth/polyaniline (CC/PANI) composite material. The synthesized photocatalysts were characterized using SEM, XRD, UV, FTIR, XPS and so on. The photocatalytic degradation performances of RhB over the prepared CC/PANI/TiO2 and the pure TiO2 were compared. The results indicate that CC/PANI/TiO2 composite material has better photocatalytic activity than TiO2 under UV-vis irradiation. PL, transient photocurrent response and EIS curves verify that the reasons for such enhanced photocatalytic activity are the accelerated mobility of photogenerated carriers and the lower recombination rate of photogenerated electrons and holes. The capture of active pieces experiments indicates that the free center dot OH radicals and center dot O-2(-) radicals are the main active oxidizing species involved in the RhB photoreaction process of CC/PANI/TiO2. Besides these important results, the easy separation and good regeneration property of the prepared CC/PANI/TiO2 photocatalyst further endow its good application prospects in the field of sewage treatment.