Facile synthesis and characterization of zinc tetranitro phthalocyanine-MWCNTs nanocomposites with efficient visible-light-driven photocatalytic activity

Novel zinc tetranitro-phthalocyanine (ZnTNPc) supported by multi-walled carbon nanotubes hybrid composites were facilely prepared by a method of ultrasonic impregnation and their photocatalysis behavior was studied. The as-prepared ZnTNPc-MWCNTs composites were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, diffuse reflectance spectra, transmission electron microscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, and the Fourier transform infrared spectra. The results showed that the ZnTNPc was not only grown on the multi-walled carbon nanotubes but also uniformly disturbed without aggregation. Compared with pure ZnTNPc and MWCNTs, ZnTNPc-MWCNTs nanocomposites presented a significantly enhanced photocatalytic activity for the degradation of rhodamine B under visible-light irradiation. Furthermore, a possible mechanism for the photodegradation of rhodamine B was also proposed.