Facile synthesis of cubic SnS/rGO nanocomposites: Structural, optical, and photocatalytic properties

Wastewater from textile industries mostly contains hazardous organic dyes and photocatalytic oxidation is considered to be one of the most effective ways of degrading organic dyes which decompose harmful organic pollutants. Tin sulfide (SnS) with orthorhombic and cubic crystal phase has received more attention as a potential visible-light-driven photocatalysts due to its excellent optical absorption properties. Cubic SnS-reduced grapheme oxide composites have been prepared by simple wet chemical route and its photocatalytic property is explored by the photodegradation of methylene blue (MB) under visible light irradiation. The synthesized samples are characterized by XRD, SEM, UV–Vis spectroscopy and catalytic degradation studies. The average crystallite size of the composite increased from 31 nm to 48 nm and preferred orientation of the crystallites shifted from (4 0 0) to (2 2 2) plane. SEM micrographs of the SnS/rGO composites indicated growth of SnS nanoparticles on the rGO layers. The composite demonstrated 98% photodegradation of MB within 50 min of irradiation time, which is much superior than the photodegradation efficiency exhibited by pristine SnS NPs under similar conditions (88%). The results signify the possible application of cubic SnS/rGO composite in natural sunlight-driven photocatalytic oxidation of industrial dyes and consequent cost-effective treatment of wastewater from textile industries.