Photocatalytic properties of Graphene-SnO2-PMMA nanocomposite in the degradation of methylene blue dye under direct sunlight irradiation

Graphene-SnO2-PMMA nanocomposite has been prepared by one-pot synthesis. The prepared composite has been subjected to XRD, HR-TEM, FT-IR, XPS, Raman spectroscopy TGA and BET analyses. The average particle size of the SnO2 in the nanocomposite was 5 nm. The Raman spectra showed the intensity ratio of 1.2 for Graphene-SnO2-PMMA nanocomposite. Photocatalytic property has been studied by the degradation of Methylene blue (MB) dye under the UV, visible and sunlight irradiations. The results reveal that the sunlight irradiation facilitates the degradation of MB dye at a minimum time interval (60 min) compared to the time taken for the UV and visible light irradiations for the same process. Finally, 99% of the Methylene blue dye were degraded under the sunlight irradiation.