Experimental exploration and DFT analysis of the kinetics and mechanism of malachite green photodegradation catalyzed by polyaniline-copper oxide nanocomposite.

Context And Results: A nanocomposite photocatalyst consisting of polyaniline (PANI) and copper oxide (CuO) was successfully synthesized through an in-situ polymerization approach using aniline as the precursor. The synthesized nanocomposite was characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), UV-visible spectroscopy (UV-Vis), determination of the point of zero charge (pHPZC), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The photocatalytic efficiency of the PANI-CuO nanocomposite was evaluated in the context of photodegrading Malachite Green (MG) dye under visible light.