Photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue from an aqueous solution using SnO₂/BaTiO₃ heterostructure

Abstract

In this study, the SnO2/BaTiO3 heterostructure has been fabricated by firstly preparing SnO2 and BaTiO3 through, followed by coupling SnO2 and BaTiO3 by the hydrothermally method. The samples are denoted as SBTO-x:y, where x:y is weight ratio of SnO2 và BaTiO3 (x:y = 1:3, 1:5 và 1:7) in the reaction mixtures. The obtained materials were characterized by XRD, IR, EDS-mapping, SEM. The photocatalytic activity of SBTO-x:y SnO2 and BaTiO3 samples was assessed by degradation of methylene blue in aqueous solution under sunlight. Among them, SBTO-1:5 exhibited the best performance. An enhancement in photocatalytic activity of the composites is believed to the presence of BaTiO3.