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

In this study, synthesis of novel binary chitosan-SnO2 nanocomposites is reported. Different physical and chemical techniques were used to characterize and analyze the characteristics of the chitosan-SnO2 nanocomposites 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 SnO2 and 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. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.