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Composite of acicular rod-like ZnO nanoparticles and semiconducting polypyrrole photoactive under visible light irradiation for methylene blue dye photodegradation

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Abstract

Nanoparticles of zinc oxide (ZnO) with acicular rod-like morphology were synthesized using a bicontinuous microemulsion and coated with polypyrrole (PPy), by polymerization in the presence of dioctyl sodium sulfosuccinate (AOT) surfactant with ammonium persulfate as oxidizing agent to obtain nanocomposites of ZnO/PPy. The resulting material was characterized by FTIR, Raman spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy. The synthesized nanocomposite consisted of ZnO nanoparticles immersed in a polypyrrole matrix with a conductivity of 6.4 × 10−6 S/cm. The synthesized nanocomposite was tested in the photodegradation of methylene blue (MB) dye under visible light irradiation resulting in photodegradation efficiency of 95.2 % after 60 min of irradiation using 3.6 g/L of nanocomposite in an aqueous solution of MB at 20 mg/L. Pseudo first-order kinetics were used to describe the photodegradation reactions.

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Acknowledgements

B.E. Castillo-Reyes acknowledges the scholarship from CONACYT (229857). V.M.O.M. wants to thank the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología—México by Grant # SEP-80843. V.M.O.M. thanks the hospitality of Dr. Farías-Cepeda at the sabbatical leave in Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, Universidad Autónoma de Coahuila.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ingeniería Química, Coordinación Académica Región Altiplano (COARA), Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí, Carretera a Cedral KM 5+600, San José de las Trojes, Matehuala, SLP, 78700, Mexico

    Víctor M. Ovando-Medina

  2. Centro de Investigación en Química Aplicada, Boulevard Enrique Reyna Hermosillo No. 140, 25253, Saltillo, Coah, Mexico

    Raúl G. López

  3. Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí. Av. Dr. Manuel Nava No.6, Zona Universitaria, San Luis Potosí, SLP, 78240, Mexico

    Blanca E. Castillo-Reyes, Pedro A. Alonso-Dávila & Omar González-Ortega

  4. Centro de Nanociencias y micro y nanotecnologías, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Luis Enrique Erro S/N, DF, 07738, Mexico

    Hugo Martínez-Gutiérrez

  5. Departamento de Ingeniería Química, Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, Universidad Autónoma de Coahuila, Blvd. V. Carranza e Ing. José Cárdenas V. S/N, Saltillo, Coahuila, 25280, Mexico

    Lorena Farías-Cepeda

Authors
  1. Víctor M. Ovando-Medina
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  2. Raúl G. López
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  3. Blanca E. Castillo-Reyes
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  4. Pedro A. Alonso-Dávila
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  5. Hugo Martínez-Gutiérrez
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  6. Omar González-Ortega
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  7. Lorena Farías-Cepeda
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Víctor M. Ovando-Medina.

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TGA analysis of ZnO/PPy composite

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Ovando-Medina, V.M., López, R.G., Castillo-Reyes, B.E. et al. Composite of acicular rod-like ZnO nanoparticles and semiconducting polypyrrole photoactive under visible light irradiation for methylene blue dye photodegradation. Colloid Polym Sci 293, 3459–3469 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00396-015-3717-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00396-015-3717-2

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