Synthesis of Ag <sub>2</sub> O‐SnO <sub>2</sub> and SnO <sub>2</sub> ‐Ag <sub>2</sub> O Nanocomposites and Investigation on Photocatalytic Performance under Direct Sun Light
M. Rajesh Kumar, Govindhasamy Murugadoss, Nachimuthu Venkatesh, Pachagounder Sakthivel
Abstract
Abstract Ag 2 O‐SnO 2 and SnO 2 ‐Ag 2 O nanocomposites were successfully synthesized by a facile one‐step chemical precipitation method. The microstructural features of nanocomposites were characterized by X‐Ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high‐resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR‐TEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT‐IR), UV‐visible (UV‐vis) and Photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. The SnO 2 ‐Ag 2 O showed enhanced PL emission than the Ag 2 O‐SnO 2 nanocomposite. Photocatalytic activity of the nanocomposites was studied for methylene blue (MB) and methyl orange (MO) dyes under sun light. The Ag 2 O‐SnO 2 nanocomposite showed excellent photocatalytic activity for the degradation of both dyes. The high photocatalytic activity of Ag 2 O‐SnO 2 could be ascribed to the enhanced charge separation derived from the coupling of Ag 2 O with SnO 2 due to the potential energy differences between Ag 2 O and SnO 2 , which would promote interfacial charge‐transfer relative to that of charge carrier recombination.