Hydrothermal synthesis, structure, and photocatalytic properties of SnO2/rGO nanocomposites with different GO concentrations

Abstract

In this work, we report on hydrothermal synthesis, structure, and photocatalytic properties of tin oxide/reduced graphene oxide (SnO2/rGO) nanocomposites with different GO concentrations. X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns of the nanocomposites show the SnO2 tetragonal structure without the diffraction peaks of rGO phase. Field emission scanning electron microscopy shows that SnO2/rGO nanocomposites have SnO2/rGO core/shell structure with an average particle size of 10–15 nm. Raman scattering of SnO2/rGO samples gives both characteristic peaks of graphene and SnO2. The Fourier transform infrared shows the dominance of the absorption peaks of SnO2 component over those of the rGO component. The absorption spectra of the SnO2/rGO samples exhibit characteristic absorption peaks related to rGO and SnO2 and the enhanced absorption intensity of visible light with increasing GO concentration. In addition, the SnO2/rGO nanocomposites show higher photocatalytic efficiency than SnO2 nanoparticles under sunlight irradiation.