https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/s13360-021-01725-0
Regular Article
Photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue and crystal violet dyes under UV light irradiation by sonochemically synthesized CuSnSe nanocrystals
1
Department of Physics, Sardar Patel University, 388120, Vallabh Vidyanagar, Gujarat, India
2
Department of Chemistry, Sardar Patel University, 388120, Vallabh Vidyanagar, Gujarat, India
a
kunjal_92@yahoo.com
c
solankigunvant@yahoo.co.in
Received:
19
March
2021
Accepted:
2
July
2021
Published online:
12
July
2021
The nanosized materials exhibit a great potential for high-performance electronics applications, and the knowledge of their optoelectronic properties is essential since they are closely related to efficient electron–hole pair generation and photodetection properties. The present work consists of the high-yield synthesis of CuxSn1–xSe (x = 0.0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, 1.0) ternary alloy nanocrystals by sonochemical exfoliation technique and comprehensive photocatalytic investigation of these alloy engineered nanocrystals. The stoichiometry, chemical composition, morphology, phase, structure, bandgaps, vibrational properties, binding energy and oxidation states of the synthesized nanocrystals are characterized by EDAX, TEM, SAED, XRD, UV-DRS, photoluminescence (PL) and Raman spectroscopy. The synthesized CuxSn1–xSe nanocrystal samples have been evaluated for their photocatalytic activity by studying the degradation of methylene blue (MB) and crystal violet (CV) dyes under UV light irradiation. The present study reveals about material photoabsorption characteristics that these materials could be used as a promising heterogeneous photocatalyst for degradation of pollutant dyes under UV irradiation. Also, it demonstrates and highlights the further alloy engineering modification of CuxSn1–xSe nanocrystals would promote the photocatalytic activity for various environmental applications or not. Experiments have also been performed for understanding the stability and reusability of the photocatalyst.
Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/s13360-021-01725-0.
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Società Italiana di Fisica and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2021