Degradation of Methylene Blue using Graphene Oxide-Tin Oxide Nanocomposite as Photocatalyst

Environmental contamination and human exposure to dyes have dramatically increased over the past decades because of their increasing use in such industries as textiles, paper, plastics, tannery and paints. These dyes can cause deterioration in water quality by imparting color to the water and inducing the photosynthetic activity of aquatic organisms by hindering light penetration. Moreover, some of the dyes are considered carcinogenic and mutagenic for human health. Therefore, efficient treatment and removal of dyes from wastewater have attracted considerable attention in recent years. Photocatalysis, due to its mild reaction condition, high degradation, broad applied area and facile manipulation, is a promising method of solving environmental pollution problems. In this paper, we report the synthesis of graphene oxide-tin oxide (GO-SnO2) nanocomposite and the effectiveness of this composite in decolorizing Methylene Blue. Tin oxide was prepared by liquid phase co-precipitation method and graphene oxide-tin oxide (GOSnO2) nanocomposite were prepared by solution mixing method. Tin oxide (SnO2) nanoparticles have been ardently investigated as photocatalyst for water purification and environment decontamination but the photon generated electron and hole pair (EHP) recombination is one of the limiting factors. Graphene oxide-tin oxide (GO-SnO2) nanocomposite is very propitious to overcome this limitation for photocatalytic application. The as-synthesized graphene oxide (GO) and GO-SnO2 nanocomposite were characterized by X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). The GO-SnO2 nanocomposite showed better photocatalytic degradation efficiency for Methylene Blue compared to SnO2 and Graphene oxide. Keywords: Graphene Oxide(GO),Methylene Blue, Nanocomposite, Photocatalyst, Photodegradation, Tin Oxide(SnO2).