Band gap engineered polymeric-inorganic nanocomposite catalysts: Synthesis, isothermal stability, photocatalytic activity and photovoltaic performance

Polymeric-inorganic nanocomposite catalysts were synthesized by facile one-pot chemical polymerization of pyrrole in the presence of titanium dioxide nanoparticles. The electrical, optical, photovoltaic performance of dye sensitized solar cell (DSSC) and visible light driven photocatalytic activities of the nanocomposite were investigated. The prepared nanocomposite displays excellent photo-activity, attaining 100% degradation of methyl orange dye in 60 min under visible light source while 55% for pure TiO2 under similar experimental conditions. The photovoltaic performance of the polypyrrole-titanium dioxide (PPy-TiO2) nanocomposite has a 51.4% improvement with a photo-conversion efficiency of 8.07% as compared to pure TiO2 based DSSC. By comparing the physical mixture of the PPy-TiO2 nanocomposite and pristine TiO2, the enhanced activity of the PPy-TiO2 nanocomposite can be attributed to the reduced charge transfer resistance, outstanding electrical conductance of the PPy, the nano-sized structure of TiO2 and their synergetic effect. Furthermore, the PPy-TiO2 nanocomposite shows excellent electrical conductivity and isothermal stability under ambient conditions below 110 °C