Synthesis and characterization of SnO₂/rGO nanocomposite for an efficient photocatalytic degradation of pharmaceutical pollutant: Kinetics, mechanism and recyclability

The SnO₂ and SnO₂/rGO nanostructures were successfully synthesized using the facile hydrothermal synthesis technique. The prepared nanostructures were well studied using different techniques such as XRD, XPS, UV-DRS, FT-IR, EDX, SEM, HR-TEM and analysis. The crystalline nature of SnO₂ and SnO₂/rGO was confirmed by the XRD technique. The formation of highly pure SnO₂ and SnO₂/rGO nanostructures was confirmed by EDX analysis. The morphological results show the good agglomeration of several spherical nanoparticles. The optical properties were studied through the UV-DRS technique and the bandgap energies of SnO₂ and SnO₂/rGO are estimated to be 3.12 eV and 2.71 eV, respectively. The photocatalytic degradation percentage in presence of SnO₂ and SnO₂/rGO against RhB was found to be 96% and 98%, respectively. The degradation of TTC molecules was estimated as 90% and 88% with SnO₂/rGO and SnO₂, respectively. The degradation of both RhB and TTC molecules was well suited with the pseudo-first-order kinetics. The results of successive experiments clearly show the enhancement in the photocatalytic properties in the SnO₂/rGO nanostructures.