Surface Structure, Spectroscopic and Photocatalytic Activity Study of Polyaniline/TiO2 Nanocomposites

PANI (polyaniline) as a promising conducting polymer and photosensitizer has been used to prepare PANI/TiO2 (polyaniline/TiO2) nanocomposite as photocatalyst. TiO2 nanoparticles with size of 5-100 nm were encapsulated by PANI via the "in situ" polymerization of aniline on the surface of TiO2 nanoparticles. IR, SEM, EPR techniques were used to characterize the mechanism of electron interaction in PANI/TiO2 nanocomposite. The resulting PANI-modified TiO2 composites exhibit significantly higher photocatalytic activity than that of neat PANI on degradation of МВ (methylen blue) aqueous solution under UV irradiation.