Synthesis of chitosan/SnO2 nanocomposites by chemical precipitation for enhanced visible light photocatalytic degradation efficiency of congo red and rhodamine-B dye molecules

Abstract

Tin oxide (SnO2) nanoparticles (NPs) as well as SnO2/chitosan(CS) nanocomposites (NCs) were successfully synthesized by a simple chemical precipitation technique and their photocatalytic degradation ability against congo red (CR) and Rhodamine-B (Rh-B) were subsequently evaluated. The crystallinity and surface morphology of the materials were evaluated using X-ray diffraction analysis and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), respectively. The TEM images revealed that nanosized SnO2 NPs were successfully obtained and were homogeneously distributed within the CS matrix. The CS/SnO2 NCs were exposed to Rh-B dye molecules, resulting in 95% degradation within 60 min, which was significantly higher than for SnO2 NPs. On the other hand, CS/SnO2 NCs were found to degrade 98% of CR dye molecules within 40 min of visible light irradiation, which was also significantly shorter than for SnO2 NPs. The CR dye molecules experienced significantly better levels of photodegradation parameters than Rh-B. The present study demonstrates the potential of CS/SnO2 NCs in the area of environmental remediation of organic dye-based water pollutants.