Preparation of NiSnO3 nanoparticles and their photocatalytic activity for degradation of Congo red dye under visible light irradiation

Photocatalysis has long been studied for clean energy and environmental applications. Over the past two decades, the number of applications based on photocatalysis has increased sharply, while a wide range of materials systems have been developed. Photocatalysis has been of particular interest in the production of hydrogen from water using solar energy. Further, conversion of CO2 to hydrocarbons (fuels) is also of significant interest, as it is a solution to reduce CO2 emissions across the globe. Apart from the clean energy generation, photocatalysis has several promising applications in the environmental field. Some of the applications include degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) for water treatment, germicide and antimicrobial action, de-coloration of industrial dyes, nitrogen fixation in agriculture, and removal of NOx/SOx air pollutants [1-3]. Perovskites are the class of compounds presenting the general formula ABO3. Generally, in this crystal structure, the A site is occupied by the larger cation, while the B site is occupied by the smaller cation. Perovskites are one of the most important families of materials exhibiting properties suitable for numerous technological applications. Perovskite compounds such as PbZrO3, BaTiO3, and PbTiO3 are most commonly used piezoelectric compounds. BiFeO3 thin films show multiferroic behavior, while compounds such as SrTiO3 have shown excellent photocatalytic properties. The origin of such properties lies in the crystal structure of perovskites [4,5]. In this work, NiSnO3 nanoparticles have been prepared by co-precipitation method. The sample was characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The photocatalytic efficiency of NiSnO3 NPs has been evaluated for Congo red dye degradation as an environment polluting model under visible light irradiation. The photocatalytic activity of NiSnO3 nanoparticles was investigated with changing factors including photocatalyst dosage, initial dye concentration, and contact time. The results presented that NiSnO3 NPs could degrade 90% of the Congo red dye.