Solution combustion synthesis of SnO_2-NiO p-n heterojunction nanocomposite for photocatalytic application

摘要

SnO~(2)–NiO p–n heterojunction nanocomposite was prepared by a solution combustion synthesis method for the reduction of water pollution. The systematic investigation has been carried out by varying the content of Ni precursor. Structural and optical properties were characterized by X-ray diffraction, HR-TEM, XPS, UV–Vis, and FT-IR spectroscopies, respectively. The as-synthesized nanocomposites exhibited good crystallinity with phases belongs to SnO~(2)and NiO. In case of nanocomposites, the reduced band gap was observed when compared to that of pure SnO~(2). The photocatalytic performance was done for all samples in the presence of UV–Visible light. The SnO~(2)–NiO p–n heterojunction sample (SN3) shows 82% RhB dye degradation within 2 h. The enhanced photocatalytic efficiency is mainly due to the formation of the p–n junction. The possible photocatalytic mechanism was proposed for the degradation of RhB under UV–Visible light irradiation.