Polymer dye-containing nanocomposites as photocatalysts

A significant improvement of photocatalytic efficiency is achieved by the synthesis of TiO₂/SiO₂ nanocomposites where silica matrix provides the transport of reagents to TiO₂ nanoparticles via porous structure, generation of the new active sites and thermal stability. The semiconductive films contained 10 or 30% of TiO₂ in silica matrix are synthesized by sol-gel method using concentrated anatase titania colloid. The complex composites consisted of i) the Acridine Yellow dye molecules and the polyepoxypropyl carbazole; ii) the azobenzene containing polymer covered onto the titania/silica films are obtained as photocatalytic materials. Photocatalytic activity of the composites is tested via the reduction of dichromate ions.