Visible-light influenced photocatalytic activity of polyaniline -bismuth selenide composites for the degradation of methyl orange, rhodamine B and malachite green dyes

Abstract Polyaniline (PANI) when composited with bismuth selenide nanoflakes (Bi 2 Se 3 NFs), a low bandgap semiconductor, reveals enhanced photocatalytic activity for degradation of organic dyes under irradiation of visible light. The composites synthesized using Bi 2 Se 3 NFs templates with different weight percentages of PANI by in-situ chemical oxidative polymerization have been used as efficient photocatalysts for degradation of anionic dye, Methyl Orange (MO), and cationic dyes, Rhodamine B (RhB) and Malachite Green (MG). Based on radical trapping experiments, the mechanism for the photocatalytic degradation of the dyes were proposed taking into account the synergistic effect of PANI with Bi 2 Se 3 NFs. The efficient visible-light active photocatalytic property of the polymer-inorganic composites is attributed to composites’ enhanced separation of photogenerated carriers compared to its individual constituents.