Photocatalytic activity of SnO2/Fe3O4 nanocomposites and the toxicity assessment of Vigna radiata, Artemia salina and Danio rerio in the photodegraded solution

Abstract

The study was undertaken to design SnO2/Fe3O4 nanocomposite by sonochemical method and to assess the photodegradation of organic dye. Textural, composition and structural features of the bare SnO2 and SnO2/Fe3O4 samples were characterized using scanning electron microscope (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray (EDX), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The X-ray diffraction of as-synthesized SnO2/Fe3O4 nanocomposites confirms the presence of tetragonal and cubic structure. The results disclose that the incorporation of Fe3O4 in SnO2 decrease the crystallite size and increase the surface area compared with bare SnO2 nanoparticle. The as-prepared photocatalyst shows higher efficiency than the bare SnO2 under sunlight irradiation. Vigna radiata seeds (VR), Artemia salina (AS) and Zebra fish (Danio rerio (DR) were used to check the toxicity level of the treated and untreated Rhodamine B (RhB) dye solution. These models displayed good consistency for examining the harmfulness of the solutions. The results suggests SnO2/Fe3O4 nanocomposite exhibited a good efficacy in the dye wastewater treatment. Further, the degradation efficiency was confirmed by the toxicity examination.