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

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 (E-opt) 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. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.