Degradation of azo dyes under different wavelengths of UV light with chitosan-SnO2 nanocomposites

Abstract

In this study, synthesis of novel binary chitosan-SnO2nanocomposites is reported. Different physical and chemical techniques were used to characterize and analyze the characteristics of the chitosan-SnO2nanocomposites as photocatalysts. The prepared novel photocatalysts were used to degrade the model dyes such as methyl orange (MO) and rhodamine B (RhB) under different wavelengths (254, 310 and 365 nm) of UV light. The photocatalytic degradation results suggest that the prepared binary chitosan-SnO2(50:50) nanocomposite shows superior degradation efficiency compared with pure SnO2and binary chitosan-SnO2(75:25) nanocomposite owing to its high crystallinity, high surface area, and small particle size. It was also observed that chitosan-SnO2(50:50) nanocomposite under different wavelengths (254 nm, 310 nm, and 365 nm) of UV light showed highest photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange and rhodamine B at 365 nm irradiation.