Facile synthesis and characterization of zinc tetranitro phthalocyanine-MWCNTs nanocomposites with efficient visible-light-driven photocatalytic activity

Abstract

Novel zinc tetranitro-phthalocyanine (ZnTNPc) supported by multi-walled carbon nanotubes hybrid composites were facilely prepared by a method of ultrasonic impregnation and their photocatalysis behavior was studied. The as-prepared ZnTNPc-MWCNTs composites were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, Xray diffraction, diffuse reflectance spectra, transmission electron microscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, and the Fourier transform infrared spectra. The results showed that the ZnTNPc was not only grown on the multi-walled carbon nanotubes but also uniformly disturbed without aggregation. Compared with pure ZnTNPc and MWCNTs, ZnTNPc-MWCNTs nanocomposites presented a significantly enhanced photocatalytic activity for the degradation of rhodamine B under visible-light irradiation. Furthermore, a possible mechanism for the photodegradation of rhodamine B was also proposed.