Sunlight highly photoactive TiO 2 @poly- p -phenylene composite microspheres for malachite green degradation

The TiO2@poly-p-phenylene (PPP) composite microspheres were successfully prepared from the self-assembled PPP microspheres in the tetrabutyl titanate solution via the sol–gel method. The morphology and optical properties of the composite microspheres have been characterized by the SEM, EDX, UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, and photoluminescence spectra. The presence of PPP changes the band gap of TiO2, which makes the composite microspheres enhance good photocatalytic activity on the degradation of malachite green (98.2%) under sunlike irradiation. The photo-catalytic reusability was investigated up to five successive cycles and the microspheres still retain their activity about 85.6% of photodegradation ratio. Consequently, the TiO2@PPP composite microspheres can be employed as the efficient photocatalyst to treat the organic pollutants.