A facile synthesized Z-scheme Bi2O3/SnS/Ag ternary nanocomposite: An expedited visible photocatalysis by plasmonic silver for efficient organic decontamination

A facile precipitation and deposition method was used to synthesize the binary Bi2O3/SnS (2 & 4 wt %) and ternary Bi2O3/SnS (2 wt %)/Ag (2, 4, 6 & 8 wt %) nanocomposites. X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), ultraviolet-visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV-DRS), photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy, energy dispersive X-Ray (EDX) spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and photocatalytic degradation studies were carried out on all the nanomaterials for identify their characteristics and properties. Rhodamine B (RhB), an organic pollutant was taken to examine the photocatalytic efficacy of the resultant nanomaterials under visible light. Bi2O3/SnS and Bi2O3/SnS/Ag photocatalysts revealed the maximum activity in the acidic medium (pH = 3). As photocatalysts, ternary Bi2O3/SnS (2 wt %)/Ag (6 wt %) nanocomposite showed magnificent performance in the degradation of RhB dye (99.77% degradation in 50 min) as compared to binary Bi2O3/SnS (2 wt %) nanocomposite (99.02% degradation in 50 min). This is due to the formation of heterojunctions and deposition of Ag increasing the transfer of electrons through junction and resulting in intensifying the life expectancy of charged species and increasing the photocatalytic ability of Bi2O3/ SnS/Ag nanocomposite. The role of trapping agents during the degradation process of RhB was also studied.