Ultrasonic green synthesis of an Ag/CP nanocomposite for enhanced photodegradation effectiveness.

A nanoparticle of cobalt(II) coordination polymer (CP), [Co(L)(npht)] n ( 1 ) (H 2 npht = 4-nitrophthalic acid, L = 1,3-bis(5,6-dimethylbenzimidazol-1-ylmethyl)benzene) and its nanocomposite (Ag/CP 1 ) were obtained by the sonochemical approach and characterized by IR, elemental analysis, thermogravimetric analyses (TGA), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD). CP 1 shows a 1D double chain containing two different helical chains, which is further extended into a two-dimensional supramolecular framework by C–H⋯O hydrogen bonding interactions. The photoluminescence properties and photocatalytic properties of the nanoparticles of CP 1 and Ag/CP 1 on the degradation of methylene blue (MB) were investigated, Ag/CP 1 exhibited excellent photocatalytic activity under UV and visible light, which can be attributed to the strong interactions between Ag nanorods and CP 1 , which lead to electron–hole pair separation between Ag nanorods and CP 1 . In addition, the photocatalytic mechanism is also carried out by introducing t -butyl alcohol (TBA) as a widely used ·OH scavenger. The influence of ultrasound irradiation time and power on the morphology and size of the nanostructure CP 1 were studied. The results indicated that a decrease in time and an increase in power led to a decrease of particle size. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]