1D copper (II) based coordination polymer/PANI composite fabrication for enhanced photocatalytic activity

One-dimensional Copper (II) Coordination polymer with pyridine-2-carboxylic acid ligand (CP1) was loaded on PANI through in situ chemical oxidative polymerization of aniline to form 1 wt%, 2 wt%, 5 wt%, 10 wt%, and 12 wt% CP1/PANI composites and study their photcatalytic activities. The photocatalytic efficiencies of CP1 and CP1/PANI composite materials were studied for degradation of methylene blue (MB) under ultraviolet (UV) light irradiation. Results reveal that CP1/PANI composite materials exhibit higher photocatalytic performances in comparison with that of CP1. The 10 wt %CP1/PANI composite exhibits the highest efficiency of about 88.31 % for the degradation in 210 min. The higher photocatalytic activity of CP1/PANI composite can be credited to the synergistic effect between CP1 and PANI that accelerates the separation efficiency of photogenerated electrons (e(-)) and holes (h(+)) at the interface between CP1 and PANI. Thus, CP1/PANI composites can be suitably used as an efficient photocatalysts for organic dye degradation.