Photodegradation of phenol in a polymer-modified TiO2 semiconductor particulate system under the irradiation of visible light

Preparation methods and photocatalytic activity of the photocatalyst nanometer TiO2/poly-(fluorene-co-thiophene) (PFT) were studied under GaI3 lamp irradiation in the present research. The degradation rate of phenol using the target photocatalyst was much higher than it was using TiO2/rhodamine B. Diffuse reflectance spectra showed that the absorbance range of TiO2/PFT was expanded from 387 nm (TiO2) to about 500 nm, and fluorescent emission spectra showed that the spectral shape of TiO2/PFT was identical with that of pure PFT. The fluorescent quantum efficiency of TiO2/PFT was estimated at 3.8% while that of PFT film was about 14.7%, which indicated that electrons transferred from the PFT into the conduction band of TiO2.