Facile synthesis of ZnFe2O4/SnO2 composites for efficient photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue

ZnFe2O4/SnO2 (ZFO/SnO2) composites were fabricated via a facile solution combustion synthesis (SCS) method for methylene blue (MB) degradation. The crystallite and morphology characterizations revealed that ZFO/SnO2 composites have relatively small crystallite and particle size compared to pure ZFO. The introduction of SnO2 remarkably improved the photocatalytic performance of pure ZFO catalyst. Specifically, ZFO-SnO2 (10%) exhibited the highest photocatalytic degradation rate constant of 0.01970 min(-1) in the composites, approximately 3.08 and 2.64 times higher than that of single ZFO (0.00640 min(-1)) and SnO2 (0.00747 min(-1)), respectively. The band alignment analysis showed that the improvement of photocatalytic activity was due to the improved charges separation efficiency in the ZFO/SnO2 composite. ZFO-SnO2 (10%) with H2O2 showed the highest photo-Fenton degradation rate constant of 0.05301 min(-1) and could remove 95.2% of MB within 60 min under irradiation.

Automated summary

In this study, ZnFe2O4/SnO2 (ZFO/SnO2) composites were prepared by a solution combustion synthesis method, showing enhanced photocatalytic degradation performance for methylene blue (MB). Characterizations of crystallite and morphology indicated that the introduction of SnO2 significantly improved the photocatalytic activity of ZFO, leading to higher degradation rates of MB.