Photocatalytic Degradation of Malachite Green and Rhodamine B Dye over SnO2-CuO Binary Metal Oxide Nanocomposite under UV Light

Abstract

While the development of various metal and metal oxide based nanocomposites as photocatalyst materials is advancing over the years, the concurrent and rapid development of high surface active photocatalyst material such as binary metal oxide nanocomposite has provided remarkable promise in the development of a multifunctional photocatalysts. The p-n type binary metal oxide is the main centre of attraction. Traditionally available photocatalysts such as TiO2, ZnO etc., lose their efficiency because of charge recombination. To overcome this problem, binary system such as SnO2-CuO nanocomposite has been selected as it will synergistically hinder the charge recombination. Considering these benefits, we intend to synthesize a variety of novel SnO2-CuO binary nanocomposite by sol-gel method. The nanocomposite will be characterized by FESEM, EDX, TGA, UV-Vis and Photoluminiscence measurements. The photocatalytic activities of SnO2-CuO, evaluated using the photodegradation of malachite green and rhodamine B dyes under the irradiation of UV light, were also found to be related to the calcination temperature and the molar ratio of Cu to Sn. The maximum photocatalytic activity of the CuO-SnO2 photocatalyst was observed to be calcined at 700°C for 2 h (the molar ratio of Cu to Sn was 1:1) due to the sample with good crystallization.