Perylene Tetracarboxylic Tetraester Sensitized Titanium Dioxide Nanocomposite for Enhanced Photodegradation

Abstract

The construction of organic–inorganic hybrids is one of the important ways to improve performances of photocatalysts. In this study, perylene tetracarboxylic tetra (n-butyl) ester loaded titanium dioxide (PTTE-B/TiO2) nanocomposite was successfully synthesized by hydrothermal method. The catalyst was characterized by XRD, DRS, XPS, Photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL) and BET. FT-IR and XPS analyses revealed the presence of Ti[Formula: see text]O bond in the interfaces between TiO2 and PTTE-B. The photoluminescence intensity of PTTE-B/TiO2 was decreased compared to TiO2, which indicated a suppression of electron–hole recombination by the loaded PTTE-B nanoparticles. The photocatalytic activity of PTTE-B/TiO2 nanocomposite for degradation of EBT using visible light was higher than that of prepared TiO2 or TiO2-P25. The detection of radical scavengers confirmed that h[Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] were the main active substances for Eriochrome Black T (EBT, an azo dye) degradation. The Ti[Formula: see text]O bond acted as a short and fast channel for photogenerated charge carriers to migrate from PTTE-B to TiO2. Furthermore, PTTE-B/TiO2 was found to be stable and reusable.