Hybrid copper doped titania/polythiophene nanorods as efficient visible light-driven photocatalyst for degradation of organic pollutants

The hybrid Cu-TiO2/polythiophene nanorods (HNRs) were prepared by modified sol-gel technique at low temperature through oxidative polymerization of thiophene. The prepared HNRs and Cu-TiO2 nanorods without polymer (CTNRs) were characterized by using XRD, TEM, IR, UV-vis DRS and XPS. IR, XPS and XRD confirm polythiophene (PTh) covered Cu-TiO2 nanorod in hybrid with rutile phase without affecting the crystal form of TiO2. TEM analysis reveals the shape and morphology of CTNRs and HNRs. TEM images of HNRs show that the metal oxide has nanorods like shape with lengths and diameters of about 35-60 and 15-25 nm respectively. From UV-visible DRS spectra, HNRs exhibit a broad and strong absorption in visible range, indicating that the incorporation of PTh onto the surface of Cu-TiO2 nanorod in hybrid can extend the photo response range of TiO2. The photocatalytic activity of HNRs shows higher degradation when compared with CTNRs under visible light irradiation by degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB) and Orange G (OG). There is no degradation of PTh was observed under visible light irradiation till five runs which is examined from photocatalytic activity, which indicates stability and reusability of photocatalyst.