Fabrication of graphene aerosol hybridized coordination polymer derived CdO/SnO2 heteronanostructure with improved visible light photocatalytic performance

Abstract

A new graphene aerosol hybridized CdO/SnO2 (CdO/SnO2/GA) heterostructure is fabricated for visible photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants. Firstly, CdO/SnO2 heteronanostructure is prepared by solid-state conversion of a nano coordination polymer. Then, the prepared CdO/SnO2 material is hybridized with graphene oxide under hydrothermal condition to get the CdO/SnO2/GA hybrid. The CdO/SnO2/GA hybrid is successfully characterized by powdered X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, photoluminescence spectroscopy and UV–Visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. It is observed that CdO/SnO2/GA exhibits improvement in visible light photocatalytic activity towards degradation of dyes compared to pure CdO/SnO2, GA or earlier reported SnO2/graphene based hybrids. The enhanced photocatalytic activity can be ascribed by synergistic effect of CdO, SnO2 and graphene, and also for higher surface area and porous nature of the graphene aerosol and effective charge separation in the CdO/SnO2/GA. Importantly, graphene and dye are also acting as the co-photosensitizer with CdO/SnO2 absorbing more visible light and enhancing charge separations. Furthermore, the CdO/SnO2/GA hybrid exhibits high photo-stability up to five cycles without any photo-corrosion implying its potential applications for environmental remediation.