Development of stable pollution free TiO2/Au nanoparticle immobilized green photo catalyst for degradation of methyl orange.

Two types of heterogeneous nanoparticle immobilized photocatalysts viz., PSP4VP-TiO2 and PSP4VP-TiO2-Au were synthesized by immobilization of TiO2 and TiO2-Au nanoparticles individually onto the insoluble cross-linked poly(styrene)-co-poly(4-vinylpyridine) as a common matrix. These two different green photocatalysts were characterized by FT-IR, SEM, HRTEM and EDS analyses and proves that the respective nanoparticles were found to immobilize onto the matrix. The photocatalytic efficiency of these catalysts was examined using degradation of methyl orange as a model reaction and found they are excellent in UV and sunlight. The stability and recycle/reusability of the catalysts were also observed to be good.