Improving ultraviolet light photocatalytic activity of polyaniline/silicon carbide composites by Fe‐doping

Abstract

ABSTRACT It was aimed to prepare polyaniline (Pani) composites, including silicon carbide ( SiC ) nanofibers doped with iron (Fe) ions. The Fe‐doping of SiC was performed to enhance the photocatalytic activity of the composites through the separation of photoexcited mobile charge carriers. For comparison purposes, Pani composites were also prepared with undoped SiC nanofibers. The composite samples were characterized by FTIR, XRD, SEM, EDX, and UV–Vis spectroscopies. Experiments on photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue under ultraviolet light irradiation revealed that Pani/ SiC ‐Fe composites exhibited higher photocatalytic activity when compared with Pani/ SiC composites. Almost 22% dye removal was obtained within 300 min with the Pani composite, containing 15 wt.% SiC ‐Fe. FTIR, XRD, SEM, EDX, and UV–Vis spectroscopies demonstrated that SiC nanofibers were successfully doped with iron ions and incorporated into the polyaniline matrix. The original aspect of this study was to research the photocatalytic activity of polyaniline composites containing Fe‐doped SiC nanofibers. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2020 , 137 , 48524.