Facile synthesis and characterization of ZnO NPs, ZnO/CdO and ZnO/SnO2 nanocomposites for photocatalytic degradation of Eosin Yellow and Direct Blue 15 under UV light irradiation

In the present report, the synthesis of ZnO NPs, ZnO/CdO NCs, and ZnO/SnO2 NCs was successfully achieved by co-precipitation technique. The PXRD pattern revealed the peaks of ZnO NPs (hexagonal structure), CdO NPs (cubic structure), and SnO2 NPs (tetragonal structure) primarily confirmed that there were no impurities in the prepared materials. The FTIR studies confirm the characteristic band of the as-prepared samples. From UV-Vis DRS spectra, band energy gap values were found to be 3.38 eV for ZnO NPs, 3.18 eV for ZnO/CdO NCs, and 3.27 eV for ZnO/SnO2 NCs which were observed. PL spectrum confirms the slight variation in emission wavelength for composites compared to pure ZnO NPs. The morphological analysis of ZnO NPs, ZnO/CdO NCs, and ZnO/SnO2 NCs were investigated by SEM analysis. The photocatalytic activity of ZnO NPs, ZnO/CdO NCs, and ZnO/SnO2 NCs was analyzed by the degradation of Eosin Yellow (EY) and Direct Blue 15 (DB-15) under UV light irradiation. The result revealed that, the ZnO/CdO NCs found to have efficient degradation candidate materials.

Automated summary

The synthesis of ZnO NPs, ZnO/CdO NCs, and ZnO/SnO2 NCs using co-precipitation technique was successfully achieved. The characterization results confirmed the absence of impurities in the prepared materials and demonstrated the efficient photocatalytic degradation performance of ZnO/CdO NCs.