Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) Are Generated as Organic Contaminants Are Broken Down: SnO2-Doped Graphene Oxide Nanocomposites Are Investigated Under Visible Light Illumination for their Photocatalytic Activity

Abstract

Our aim is to establish a more efficient and reliable method for the bio-fabrication of pure SnO2 and SnO2-doped graphene oxide nanocomposites through a green chelating agent called Moringa Oleifera extract by sol-gel method. A sintered SnO2-doped GO nanocomposite exhibited increased crystallinity and size with increasing temperature, as determined by XRD studies. An FTIR investigation shows that the SnO2-doped GO nanocomposite exhibits two distinct bands at 733 cm−1 and 438 cm−1 due to terminal oxygen vibrations, while samples treated with G-O-Sn-O exhibit bands at 733 cm−1 due to antisymmetric stretching. By increasing the SnO2 peak, SnO2 nanoparticle sizes decrease, which results in a broadened GO, as well as a reduced IR intensity. By SEM and EDAX, the size and morphology of SnO2-doped GO nanocomposites were clearly observed. It was calculated that the optical bandgap of SnO2-doped GO nanostructures is 4.48 eV. It has been demonstrated that SnO2-doped GO nanocomposite can be used as an organic photocatalyst against organic pollutants methyl orange (MO) dye; despite its fast charge recombination when illuminated with visible light, these findings have been reported in detail.