Preparation and Characterization of Polyaniline /ZnO (MWCNTs)Nanocomposite, and its photocatalytic activity on the Degradation of Cinnarizine drug in AqueousSolutions

Abstract

In this study, polyaniline/ZnO/MWCNTs nanocomposite with different amount of MWCNTs 0.1, 0.3 and 0.5 g was synthesized using one pot method and used as photocatalyst. The nanocomposites were characterized by Fourier transform infrared–spectroscopy (FT-IR) and ultraviolet –visible spectroscopy (UV-VIS). The appearance of N-H, C-H, C-N, C=C, and Zn-O bonds at 3427, 924, 1340, 1569, and 619 cm-1 respectively indicated the nanocomposites were successively synthesized. The calculated band gab energies for PANI/ZnO/MWCNTs nanocomposite estimated from UV-VIS measurement were found to be 3.975, 3.941, and 3.921 ev for the nanocomposite with 0.1, 0.3and 0.5 g MWCNTs, respectively. The photocatalytic activity of nanocomposite under sunlight was investigated. The optimum conditions for the photodegradation of cinnarizineby the nanocomposites were found to be 0.5g of MWCNTs and 17µg/ml of the sample for 40 min. The results also indicated that the photodegradation efficiency is improved from 76.6% to 86.1% as the amount of MWCNTs in the nanocomposite increased from 0.1 to 0.5 g at optimum concentration of sample 17 µg/ml, and 40 min exposure time. The kinetic of photodegradation of cinnarizine showed that the photodegradation reaction followed first order kinetic equation with reaction rate constants (K app) of 0.03061, 0.04363, and 0.0424 min-1 for the nanocompositeprepared by 0.1, 0.3, and 0.5 g MWCNTs, respectively.