Facile chemical route to copper/polymer composite: Simultaneous reduction and polymerization

• Oxidative polymerization of 6-aminoquinoline with the cupric sulphate solution was achieved.
• Resulting composite was highly fluorescent.
• The optical band gap of this composite was calculated as 3.98 eV.
• The composite obtained was successfully catalyzed the decomposition of methylene blue under UV irradiation.

The oxidation of 6-aminoquinoline (AQ) with the cupric sulphate solution yielded the formation of core-shell organic-inorganic composite, consisting of copper particles and poly(6-aminoquinoline) (PAQ) matrix. The resulting composite (PAQ/Cu) was characterized by UV–Vis, FT-IR, SEM, TEM, X-RD, XPS, cyclic voltammetry (CV), thermogravimetry (TG), fluorescence and solid state conductivity measurements. Optic band gap (Eopt) of composite determined by Tauch equality was 3.98 eV. From fluorescence analysis, it was revealed the presence of a solvatochromic phenomenon. Current–voltage (I–V) characteristics of PAQ/Cu were determined. As a novel photocatalytic material, photocatalytic performance of composite was also investigated for degradation of methylene blue (MB) under UV irradiation.

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