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Photocatalytic activities of polyaniline-modified TiO2 and ZnO under visible light: an experimental and modeling study

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Abstract

In this study, photocatalytic activities of polyaniline-modified TiO2 and ZnO were examined by photodegradation of Sunfix red S3B reactive dye under visible light. The nanocomposites have been synthesized by in situ oxidative polymerization method. Structural, morphological, and optical characteristics of the prepared photocatalysts were analyzed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy techniques. The results showed that photocatalytic activities of the synthesized nanocomposites have increased due to increasing density of electrons in TiO2 and ZnO. Irradiation tests were performed to investigate the impacts of photocatalyst amount, initial dye concentration, and irradiation period on photodegradation efficiency. Strength and direction of the relationships between the experimental conditions and the obtained photocatalytic efficiencies were also examined by bivariate correlation analysis. Photocatalyst amount was found to be the most effective factor in the process with correlation coefficients of 0.76 and 0.77 for PANI/TiO2 and PANI/ZnO, respectively. In the final stage of the work, artificial neural networks were applied to predict the photodegradation efficiencies of the synthesized nanocomposites, individually. The chosen network architecture provided good prediction performances for both of the nanocomposite types.

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Abbreviations

ANN:

Artificial neural networks

AOP:

Advanced oxidation process

APS:

Ammonium persulfate

C0 :

Initial dye concentration (mg/L)

C:

Remaining dye concentration (mg/L)

FT-IR:

Fourier transform infrared

MSE:

Mean square error

PANI:

Polyaniline

R 2 :

Pearson’s determination coefficient

SEM:

Scanning electron microscopy

UV:

Ultraviolet

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by Kocaeli University Research Funds (KOU-BAP-2014/016). The authors express their thanks to Dr. Recep Kaya Göktaş for helpful discussions and suggestions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Engineering, University of Kocaeli, 41380, Izmit, Kocaeli, Turkey

    Bilge Özbay, Nevim Genç & İsmail Özbay

  2. Department of Chemistry, University of Kocaeli, 41380, Izmit, Kocaeli, Turkey

    Baha Bağhaki & Sibel Zor

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  1. Bilge Özbay
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  2. Nevim Genç
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  3. İsmail Özbay
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  4. Baha Bağhaki
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  5. Sibel Zor
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Correspondence to İsmail Özbay.

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Özbay, B., Genç, N., Özbay, İ. et al. Photocatalytic activities of polyaniline-modified TiO2 and ZnO under visible light: an experimental and modeling study. Clean Techn Environ Policy 18, 2591–2601 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-016-1174-3

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