Abstract
A series of 1D tin oxide (SnO2) anchored on the 2D-reduced graphene oxide (RGO) composites were successfully synthesized by two-step hydrothermal method. The microstructure, morphology, chemical composition, oxidation states and surface areas of SnO2 nanotubes, SnO2 nanotubes/RGO nanosheets were comparatively studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET). UV–Vis absorption spectra indicate that SnO2@RGO nanohybrids enhance absorbance in UV as well as visible region, while the intensity of PL decreases as compared to SnO2. This plays a crucial role to minimize the recombination of charge carriers through transfer of electron from SnO2 to RGO. The photocatalytic activities of the as-prepared nanocomposites for the photoreduction of Cr(VI) under visible irradiation were investigated. The SnO2@RGO nanocomposites exhibited better photodegradation efficiency (98%) than the bare SnO2 (38%). The enhanced photocatalytic activity of SnO2@RGO can be attributed to vectorial electron transfer process in the continuous network of RGO with large specific surface area, synergistic interaction between RGO and SnO2.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, upon reasonable request.
References
A. Kudo, Y. Miseki, Heterogeneous photocatalyst materials for water splitting. Chem. Soc. Rev. 38, 253–278 (2009)
M.G. Walter, E.L. Warren, J.R. McKone, S.W. Boettcher, Q. Mi, E.A. Santori, N.S. Lewis, Solar water splitting cells. Chem. Rev. 110, 6446–6473 (2010)
N. Patel, R. Jaiswal, T. Warang, G. Scarduelli, A. Dashora, B.L. Ahuja, D.C. Kothari, A. Miotello, Efficient photocatalytic degradation of organic water pollutants using V-N, co-doped TiO2 thin films. Appl. Catal. B 150, 74–81 (2014)
D. Spasiano, L.D.P.P. Rodriguez, J.C. Olleros, S. Malato, R. Marotta, R. Andreozzi, Enhanced photocatalytic activity based on composite structure with down conversion material and graphene. Appl. Catal. B 136, 56–63 (2013)
M.R. Hoffmann, S.T. Martin, W. Choi, D.W. Bahnemann, Environmental applications of semiconductor photocatalysis. Chem. Rev. 95, 69–96 (1995)
S. Safa, R. Azimirad, Enhanced UV-detection and photocatalytic performance of TiO2-SWNTs nanocomposite fabricated by facile wetness-impregnation method. Chin. J. Phys. 52, 1156 (2014)
Y. Ku, C.N. Lin, W.M. Hou, Characterization of coupled NiO/TiO2 photocatalyst for the photocatalytic reduction of Cr(VI) in aqueous solution. J. Mol. Catal. A 349, 20–27 (2011)
R. Malik, V.K. Tomer, V. Chaudhary, M.S. Dahiya, P.S. Rana, S.P. Nehra, S. Duhan, Facile synthesis of hybridized mesoporous Au@TiO2/SnO2 as efficient photocatalyst and selective VOC sensor. ChemistrySelect 1, 3247–3258 (2016)
R. Malik, V. Chaudhary, P.S. Rana, V.K. Tomer, S.P. Nehra, S. Duhan, Lanthanide ions doped-SnO2: a stable and efficient photocatalyst for dye decontamination. Energy Environ. Focus 5, 35–42 (2016)
R. Malik, V.K. Tomer, S. Duhan, S.P. Nehra, P.S. Rana, Effect of annealing temperature on the photocatalytic performance of SnO2 nanoflowers towards degradation of Rhodamine B. Adv. Sci. Eng. Med. 7, 448–456 (2015)
Z. Xie, Y. Zhou, L. Guan, S. Muhammad, Y. Jiang, S. Zhang, C. Yu, Y. Jiao, S. Zhang, Y. Ren, X Zhou Z Liu, Effect of impurity in Cu2O nanowires on the degradation of methyl orange. J. Mater. Sci. Mater. Electron. 31, 3817–3824 (2020)
F. Tariq, R. Hussain, Z. Noreen, A. Javed, A. Shah, A. Mahmood, M. Sajjad, H. Bokhari, S ur Rahman, Enhanced antibacterial activity of visible light activated sulfur-doped TiO2 nanoparticles against Vibrio cholera. Mater. Sci. Semicond. Process. 147, 106731 (2022)
D.C.T. Nguyen, K.Y. Cho, W.C. Oh, Synthesis of frost-like CuO combined graphene-TiO2 by self-assembly method and its high photocatalytic performance. Appl. Surf. Sci. 412, 252–261 (2017)
C. Sun, H. Liab, L. Chen, Nanostructured ceria-based materials: synthesis, properties, and applications. Energy Environ. Sci. 5, 8475–8505 (2012)
P. Manjula, R. Boppella, S.V. Manorama, A facile and green approach for the controlled synthesis of porous SnO2 nanospheres: application as an efficient photocatalyst and an excellent gas sensing material. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 4, 6252–6260 (2012)
P. Li, Y. Lan, Q. Zhang, Z. Zhao, T. Pullerits, K. Zheng, Y. Zhou, Iodinated SnO2 quantum dots: a facile and efficient approach to increase solar absorption for visible-light photocatalysis. J. Phys. Chem. C 120, 9253–9262 (2016)
S. Liu, G. Huang, J. Yu, T.W. Ng, H.Y. Yip, P.K. Wong, Porous fluorinated SnO2 hollow nanospheres: transformative self-assembly and photocatalytic inactivation of bacteria. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 6, 2407–2414 (2014)
L. Li, J. Liu, Y. Su, G. Li, X. Chen, X. Qiu, T. Yan, Surface doping for photocatalytic purposes: relations between particle size, surface modifications, and photoactivity of SnO2:Zn2+ nanocrystals. Nanotechnology 20, 155706–155715 (2009)
R. Saravanan, S. Karthikeyan, V.K. Gupta, G. Sekaran, V. Narayanan, A. Stephen, Enhanced photocatalytic activity of ZnO/CuO nanocomposite for the degradation of textile dye on visible light illumination. Mater. Sci. Eng. C 33, 91–98 (2013)
M.J. Allen, V.C. Tung, R.B. Kaner, Honeycomb carbon: a review of graphene. Chem. Rev. 110, 132–145 (2010)
X. Zhou, T. Shi, J. Wu, H. Zhou, (001) Facet-exposed anatase-phase TiO2 nanotube hybrid reduced graphene oxide composite: synthesis, characterization and application in photocatalytic degradation. Appl. Surf. Sci. 287, 359–368 (2013)
B. Liu, Y. Huang, Y. Wen, L. Du, W. Zeng, Y. Shi, F. Zhang, G. Zhu, X. Xu, Y. Wang, Highly dispersive 001 facets-exposed nanocrystalline TiO2 on high quality graphene as a high performance photocatalyst. J. Mater. Chem. 22, 7484–7491 (2012)
J. Zhang, Z. Xiong, X.S. Zhao, Graphene–metal–oxide composites for the degradation of dyes under visible light irradiation. J. Mater. Chem. 21, 3634–3640 (2011)
S. Baek, S.H. Yu, S.K. Park, A. Pucci, C. Marichy, D.C. Lee, A one-pot microwave-assisted non-aqueous sol–gel approach to metal oxide/graphene nanocomposites for Li-ion batteries. RSC Adv. 1, 1687–1690 (2011)
H.N. Lim, R. Nurzulaikha, I. Harrison, S.S. Lim, W.T. Tan, M.C. Yeo, Preparation and characterization of tin oxide, SnO2 nanoparticles decorated grapheme. Ceram. Int. 38, 4209–4216 (2012)
A. Priyadharsan, V. Vasanthakumar, S. Karthikeyan, V. Raj, S. Shanavas, P.M. Anbarasan, Multi-functional properties of ternary CeO2/SnO2/rGO nanocomposites: visible light driven photocatalyst and heavy metal removal. J. Photochem. Photobiol. A 346, 32–45 (2017)
Y. Yang, L. Qu, L. Dai, T.-S. Kang, M. Durstock, Electrophoresis coating of titanium dioxide on aligned carbon nanotubes for controlled syntheses of photoelectronic nanomaterials. Adv. Mater. 19, 1239–1243 (2007)
G. Williams, B. Seger, P.V. Kamat, TiO2–graphene nanocomposites. UV assisted photocatalytic reduction of graphene oxide. ACS Nano 2, 1487–1491 (2008)
H. Wang, J. Li, M. Zhou, Q. Guan, Z. Lu, P. Huo, Y. Yan, Preparation and characterization of Ag2O/SWNTs photocatalysts and its photodegradation on tetracycline. J. Ind. Eng. Chem. 30, 64–70 (2015)
H. Wang, X. Yang, J. Zi, M. Zhou, Z. Ye, J. Li, Q. Guan, P. Lv, P. Huo, Y. Yan, High photocatalytic degradation of tetracycline under visible light with Ag/AgCl/activated carbon composite plasmonic photocatalyst. J. Ind. Eng. Chem. 35, 83–92 (2016)
M. Parthibavarman, K. Vallalperuman, S. Sathishkumar, M. Durairaj, K. Thavamani, A novel microwave synthesis of nanocrystalline SnO2 and its structural optical and dielectric properties. J. Mater. Sci. Mater. Electron. 25, 730–735 (2014)
M. Parthibavarman, M. Karthik, P. Sathishkumar, R. Poonguzhali, Rapid synthesis of novel Cr-doped WO3 nanorods: an efficient electrochemical and photocatalytic performance. J. Iran. Chem. Soc. 15, 1419–1430 (2018)
R. BoopathiRaja, M. Parthibavarman, Hetero-structure arrays of MnCo2O4 nanoflakes@ nanowires grown on Ni foam: design, fabrication and applications in electrochemical energy storage. J. Alloys Compd. 811, 152084 (2019)
R. BoopathiRaja, M. Parthibavarman, A. Nishara Begum, Hydrothermal induced novel CuCo2O4 electrode for high performance supercapacitor applications. Vacuum 165, 96–104 (2019)
M. Durairasan, P. SivaKarthik, J. Balaji, B. Rajeshkanna, Design and fabrication of WSe2/CNTs hybrid network: a highly efficient and stable electrodes for dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Diam. Relat. Mater. 12, 108174 (2020)
Y.L. Li, Y.Y. Bian, H.X. Qin et al., Photocatalytic reduction behavior of hexavalent chromium on hydroxyl modified titanium dioxide. Appl. Catal. B 206, 293–299 (2017)
M. Zhou, J. Li, Z. Ye, C. Ma, H. Wang, P. Huo, W. Shi, Y. Yan, Transfer Charge and Energy of Ag@CdSe QDs-RGO core–shell plasmonic photocatalyst for enhanced visible light photocatalytic activity. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 7, 28231–28243 (2015)
G. Peng, J.E. Ellis, X. Xu, A. Star, In situ grown TiO2 nanospindles facilitate the formation of holey reduced graphene oxide by photodegradation. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 8, 7403–7410 (2016)
H. Liu, T. Liu, Z. Zhang, X. Dong, Y. Liu, Z. Zhu, Simultaneous conversion of organic dye and Cr(VI) by SnO2/rGO microcomposites. J. Mol. Catal. A 410, 41–48 (2015)
Y. Zhao, D. Zhao, C. Chen, X. Wang, Enhanced photo-reduction and removal of Cr(VI) on reduced graphene oxide decorated with TiO2 nanoparticles. J. Colloid Interface Sci. 405, 211–217 (2013)
X. Liu, W. Liu, Z. Chi, Enhanced Cr(VI) adsorption using ZnO decorated graphene composite: batch and continuous studies. J. Taiwan Inst. Chem. Eng. 140, 104534 (2022)
S.T. Rahmat, W.K. Tan, G. Kawamura, A. Matsuda, Z. Lockman, Facile fabrication of rGO/rutile TiO2 nanowires as photocatalyst for Cr(VI) reduction. Mater. Today Proc. 17, 1143–1151 (2019)
L. Xu, L. Yang, X. Bai, X. Du, Y. Wang, P. Jin, Persulfate activation towards organic decomposition and Cr(VI) reduction achieved by a novel CQDs-TiO2–x/rGO nanocomposite. Chem. Eng. J. 373, 238–250 (2019)
L. Liu, C. Luo, J. Xiong, Z. Yang, Y. Zhang, Y. Cai, H. Gu, Reduced graphene oxide (rGO) decorated TiO2 microspheres for visible-light photocatalytic reduction of Cr(VI). J. Alloys Compd. 690, 771–776 (2017)
Y. Hou, S. Pu, Q. Shi, S. Mandal, H. Ma, S. Xue, Ultrasonic impregnation assisted in situ photoreduction deposition synthesis of Ag/TiO2/rGO ternary composites with synergistic enhanced photocatalytic activity. J. Taiwan Inst. Chem. Eng. 104, 139–150 (2019)
X. Cheng, W. Leng, D. Liu, Y. Xu, J. Zhang, C. Cao, Electrochemical preparation and characterization of surface-fluorinated TiO2 nanoporous film and its enhanced photoelectrochemical and photocatalytic properties. J. Phys. Chem. C 112, 8725–8734 (2008)
L. Peng, T. Xie, Y. Lu, H. Fan, D. Wang, Synthesis, photoelectric properties and photocatalytic activity of the Fe2O3/TiO2 heterogeneous photocatalysts. Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 12, 8033–8041 (2010)
Funding
The authors have not disclosed any funding.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
DR and MDK: study conceptualization and writing (original draft) the manuscript. PSK: data curation, formal analysis and writing (review and editing), and funding acquisition and project administration.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Ramki, D., Dharmendira Kumar, M. & Siva Karthik, P. Nanohybrids of 1D tin oxide (SnO2) nanotubes 2D-reduced graphene oxide (RGO) for improving photodegradation of Cr(VI). J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 34, 551 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-023-09854-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-023-09854-1