| Abstract Scope |
In addition to semiconductor metal oxide nanoparticles, the photocatalytic activity of semicrystalline polymers has been promising in recent years. Here, the influence of the polymerization temperature on crystallinity, optical band gap, molecular structure, morphology of nanoparticles, and photocatalytic activity of polyaniline have been investigated thoroughly. The structures of the polyanilines were analyzed by using X-ray diffraction (XRD), ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). As the polymerization temperature decreased, the crystallinity and band gap of polyaniline were reduced with a declination in the quinoid-to-benzenoid ratio, whereas the morphology of polyaniline showed a decreasing tendency for particle overlapping. The photocatalytic activity of pure polyaniline polymerized at room temperature showed superior photocatalytic activity, attributed to its higher crystallinity, higher band gap, and excellent quinoid-to-benzenoid ratio. All the reactions followed first-order kinetics, and reaction kinetics was found to be increased significantly in the presence of hydrogen peroxide. |