Role of Eu and La co-doping on SnO2 photocatalyst with enhanced photocatalytic activity for the degradation of crystal violet dye

Abstract

The global community is grappling with a pressing concern: The dwindling availability of unpolluted water sources. Human endeavours have led to the degradation of pure water, aggravating this crisis. In the current study, Eu and La co-doped SnO₂ nanoparticles were successfully synthesized by a simple wet-chemical method. XRD analysis reveals the increased micro-strain and dislocation density of the composite sample when compared with pure SnO₂. HRTEM of the composite sample evidenced a rice-like morphology with an average particle size of 14.49 nm. Chemical states of Sn, O, Eu and La were obtained from XPS analysis. The Raman spectra further confirm the formation of tetragonal SnO₂. The band gap of SnO₂ reduced from 2.12 to 1.90 eV when co-doped with Eu and La. Consequently, the resulting Eu and La co-doped SnO₂ degraded 83% and 99.6% of the crystal violet dye under visible light and UV light, respectively, as compared to SnO₂, Eu-doped SnO₂ and La-doped SnO₂ nanoparticles under visible and UV light irradiations. These co-doped Eu and La co-doped SnO₂ nanostructures prepared as such can be exploited for the development of UV–Visible driven photocatalysts in the domain of environmental remediation.