Photocatalytic activity of mixture of ZrO2/SnO2, ZrO2/CeO2 and SnO2/CeO2 nanoparticles

The ZrO2, SnO2 and CeO2 nanoparticles synthesized by sol–gel procedure and calcined at 550 °C. The prepared nanoparticles characterized by X-ray diffraction spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy and IR spectrophotometry. The structure of prepared nanoparticles were tetragonal and monoclinic as confirmed from the XRD patterns. The photocatalytic activity of ZrO2, SnO2, CeO2 nanoparticles and the mixture of 1:1 of ZrO2/SnO2, ZrO2/CeO2 and SnO2/CeO2 studied in 2-nitrophenol degradation reaction. The order of photocatalytic activity is ZrO2/SnO2 > ZrO2/CeO2 > SnO2/CeO2 > ZrO2 > SnO2 > CeO2. Among mixtures of ZrO2/SnO2, the mixture with weight ratio of 4:1 showed the highest photocatalytic activity. The results indicated the ZrO2 nanoparticles with the more band-gap energy had an important role in photocatalytic activity. The mixture of ZrO2/SnO2 (4:1) is also indicated the higher photocatalytic activity in comparison to Zr0.8Sn0.2O2 nanocomposite. The complete degradation of 2-nitrophenol was obtained at time 45 min in the presence of hydrogen peroxide (0.1 g/L) and the mixture of ZrO2/SnO2 (4:1).

► The formation of tetragonal and monoclinic phases of SnO2, CeO2 and ZrO2 nanoparticles calcined at 550 °C.
► The photocatalytic activity is obtained as SnO2/ZrO2 > CeO2/ZrO2 > SnO2/CeO2 > ZrO2 > SnO2 > CeO2.
► The photocatalytic activity of mixture of ZrO2/SnO2 (4:1) > Zr0.8Sn0.2O2 nanocomposite.
► The complete degradation of 2-nitrophenol at 45 min at presence of ZrO2/SnO2 (4:1) and H2O2.