Fabrication of SnO2/CQDs composite for photocatalytic degradation of malachite green dye

Abstract

In the present study, an attempt had been made to design and fabricate the SnO2/CQDs
composite. Initially, SnO2 nanoparticles were prepared by co-precipitation method. X-ray diffraction
(XRD) results have revealed the formation of pure single phase tetragonal SnO2 nanoparticles. Carbon
quantum dots (CQDs) have been prepared by microwave assisted method. The formation of SnO2/CQDs composite has been confirmed by fourier transformed infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The slight shift in peak position of Sn-O-Sn bond has revealed the formation of SnO2/CQDs composite. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) of the samples has indicated the formation of SnO2 nanoparticles and dispersion of SnO2 nanoparticles into CQDs matrix. Further, SnO2 nanoparticles and its composite with CQDs were employed as photocatalysts in the degradation of Malachite green (MG) dye under open sun light irradiation. The excellent feature of the study is that for both the photocatalysts, only in 10 minutes complete degradation of dye has been achieved. Photocatalytic results have revealed that SnO2/CQDs photocatalyst possesses better photocatalytic activity than that of pure SnO2 nanoparticles.