Synthesis, characterization and catalytic activity of copolymer/metal oxide nanocomposites (Article in Press)

Abstract

Metal oxide nanoparticle-mediated solution polymerization of aniline (ANI) with alizarin red (AR) and methyl red (MR) was carried out under different experimental conditions in the presence of FeCl 3 as an oxidizing agent at 0¡V5?¢XC under nitrogen purging for 2?h. Thus, the synthesized random copolymer was characterized by FTIR, UV¡Vvisible, fluorescence emission spectroscopy, FESEM and conductivity measurement. The order of reaction was calculated for monomer and metal oxide nanoparticles variations. The FTIR spectrum showed a peak at 1462?cm ?1 corresponding to the N=N stretching of MR dye in the copolymer structure. The metal oxides-mediated copolymerization of ANI with MR led to the decrease in absorbance and fluorescence emission spectroscopy due to the degradation of MR structure. The copolymerization of dyes with ANI was confirmed by GPC. The solubility test declared that the prepared copolymers are freely soluble in water. The CuO nanoparticle-mediated random copolymer showed an increase in electrical conductivity value. A plausible reaction mechanism was proposed in order to explain the experimental results obtained. ? 2018, Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.