Photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange by Eu doped SnO2 nanoparticles

An eco-friendly approach was adapted for the synthesis of Eu doped SnO2 nanoparticles (NPs) by using aqueous leaf extract of Calotropis gigantea. The attempt was made to see the effect of Eu content in SnO2 NPs on photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange (MO). The characterization of synthesized NPs was carried out by applying different techniques such as diffuse reflectance spectroscopy fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy, X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), high resolution-transmission electron microscopy, field emission-scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray analysis and photoluminescence spectroscopy. The XRD results confirmed, the polycrystalline nature and tetragonal rutile phase of Eu3+ doped SnO2 NPs. Bandgap of pure SnO2 is 3.1 eV which is reduced to 3 eV for 0.1 mol% Eu3+ hence doping is responsible for bandgap narrowing. Consequently, up to 90% photocatalytic degradation of MO by 0.1 mol% Eu3+ doped SnO2 takes place within 3 h under UV–Vis light(λ = 365 nm). It is noted that doping of Eu enhances the efficiency of MO by 10%.