Effect of conducting polymer on photoluminescence quenching of green synthesized ZnO thin film and its photocatalytic properties

Abstract

In order to degrade the waste dyes, a nanocomposite thin film based on Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnONP) and conducting polymer was synthesized by adopting simple ionic layer adsorption reaction( SILAR) method. ZnO was synthesized via green synthetic method by employing cucum sativa fruit pulp an environmental friendly biosolvent which acts as reducing and capping agent. Characterization of the ZnONP reveals enhanced crystallinity, spherical morphology and low bandgap which has a higher influence in the Photoluminescence(PL) quenching of the nanocomposite thin film. The antibacterial activity was performed for green synthesized ZnONP which exhibited better activity due to the presence of oxygen interstitials. ZnO/NaI-PPy thin film exhibited higher conductivity than ZnO/PPy thin film due to the higher mobility of NaI and charge transfer mechanism. The oxygen interstitial in ZnONP is responsible for the reduced PL intensity in nanocomposite thin film. The photocatalytic property of the nanocomposite thin film was evaluated using the degradation of rhodamine 6g dye under visible light. The photocatalytic reaction of the ZnO/NaI-PPy nanocomposite thin film in visible light is 65% higher than that of pure NaI-PPy thin film catalyst.