Enhanced photosensitization of zinc oxide nanorods using polyaniline for efficient photocatalytic and photoelectrochemical water splitting

PANI/ZnO nanocomposite has been synthesized by coupling visible light active polyaniline (PANI) with ZnO nanorods via simple chemisorption method. The PANI/ZnO nanomposite exhibited remarkable improvement in photocatalytic efficiency and IPCE for PANI/ZnO composite as compared to ZnO. The enhancement in photocatalytic and photoelectrochemical activity of ZnO after loading of PANI is attributed to the higher separation efficiency of photogenerated charge carriers due to the formation of type-II heterojunction between PANI and ZnO.223