In situ construction of conjugated polymer P3HT coupled hierarchical ZnO composite with Z-scheme enhanced visible-light photocatalytic activity

Conjugated polymer P3HT coupled with hierarchical ZnO (H-ZnO) photocatalysts were fabricated by a two-step solution method with assembling P3HT nanoparticles on the surface of H-ZnO micro-flowers. The as-prepared P3HT@H-ZnO composite exhibited highest photocatalytic activity for photocatalytic degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB) and under visible light irradiation. The enhanced photocatalytic activity was attributed to the richen defects in H-ZnO micro-flowers and the effective separation and transfer of the photo-induced electron-hole pairs within the P3HT@H-ZnO composite follow a Z-scheme mechanism.