Synthesis of SnO2/ZnO flowerlike composites photocatalyst for enhanced photocatalytic degradation of malachite green

In this work, SnO2/ZnO flowerlike composites were designed and successfully synthesized via a combination of hydrothermal synthesis and ultrasonic-assisted calcination. The microstructures and optical properties of as-fabricated composites were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), nitrogen adsorption-desorption analyses, fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV–vis DRS). The results showed that the synthesized SnO2/ZnO composites have obvious flowerlike structures, which are consisted of tetragonal SnO2 and hexagonal ZnO. The photocatalytic activity of the prepared SnO2/ZnO flowerlike composite photocatalyst was investigated by the degradation of malachite green (MG) dye under visible light irradiation. The results demonstrated that SnO2/ZnO flowerlike composite photocatalyst showed higher photocatalytic activities than individual SnO2. Moreover, the Sn/Zn-1 composite exhibited the perfect degradation effect, and the degradation efficiency of MG reaches 98% after visible light irradiation of 150 min. The enhanced photocatalytic performance is due to the enhanced charge separation and inhibition of charge recombination by SnO2/ZnO flowerlike composites. In a word, the prepared composite nanomaterials have excellent photocatalytic properties and are expected to be used for environmental decontamination.