Solid-phase photocatalytic degradation of polystyrene with TiO2 modified by iron (II) phthalocyanine

A novel photodegradable polystyrene-FePc-TiO2 (PS-FePc-TiO2) nanocomposite was prepared by embedding the FePc-TiO2 into the commercial polystyrene. The TiO2 catalyst was modified by iron (II) phthalocyanine in order to improve its photocatalytic efficiency under the visible light irradiation. Solid-phase photocatalytic degradation of the PS-FePc-TiO2 nanocomposite was carried out in an ambient air at room temperature under ultraviolet lamp and/or sunlight irradiation. The properties of composite films were compared with those of the pure PS films and the polystyrene-TiO2 (PS-TiO2) composite films through performing weight loss monitoring, scanning electron microscope (SEM), FT-IR and UV–vis spectroscopy. The photo-induced degradation of PS-FePc-TiO2 composite films was significantly higher than that of the pure PS films and the PS-TiO2 composite films both under the UV irradiation and under the sunlight irradiation. The weight loss of the PS-FePc-TiO2 composite film reached 35% under the sunlight irradiation. FT-IR analysis and weight loss results indicated that the benzene rings in PS matrix of the composite film were cleaved during UV-light irradiation. The photocatalytic degradation mechanism of the composite films was briefly discussed.