Photocatalytic degradation of textile azo dye over Ce1−xSnxO2 series

Ce1−xSnxO2 (x = 0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3 and 1.0) have been prepared by co-precipitation method and characterized by XRD, FTIR, BET surface area and TG/DSC methods. The solid state studies such as electrical resistivity, magnetic susceptibility and diffuse reflectance measurements have been carried out and are attempted to correlate with the photocatalytic activity of these compositions. Solar radiation induced degradation of the textile diazo dye Naphthol Blue Black (NBB) has been carried out on these semiconductor compositions. The surface adsorbed oxygen plays an important role in scavenging photogenerated electrons thus preventing the recombination between electron and hole, inducing effective photodegradation.