Synthesis and evaluation of core–shell nanocomposites for the photodegradation of liner alkyl-benzene sulfonate water contaminations

Abstract

Linear alkyl-benzene sulfonate surfactants (LAS) are a major pollutant source of sewage and wastewater. They trigger severe impact on the environmental fauna and flora. Current research explores the synthesis of three different core–shell nanocomposites (CSNCs) containing titania through an inexpensive oxidative polymerization technique. The fabricated CSNCs were evaluated for the photocatalytic degradation of LAS water contaminations. The selected CSNCs investigated for this study were the TiO2/poly(aniline-co-pyrrole) and TiO2/ poly(aniline-co-3-Me-thiophene) as well as the TiO2/terpolymer (aniline-pyrrole-m-aminobenzoic acid). The structure of the formed nanocomposites was confirmed by varied characterization spectroscopy. The core–shell structure of the nanocomposites was confirmed by scanning electron micrographs and transmission electron microscopy. The CSNCs exhibited intensive photo catalytic degradation efficacy toward LAS under visible light exposure in comparison with the exposure in their absence. The parameters optimizing their photovoltaic degradation efficiency were assessed. The presented approach implies that an effective, economical, and environmentally friendly synthetic setup was achieved to produce novel CSNCs with high potential as LAS photodegradation agents.