Facile Synthesis of SnO2/SiC Nanosheets for Photocatalytic Degradation of MO

Novel SnO2/SiC photocatalysts with nanosheet morphology were successfully fabricated by mechanical alloying and subsequent aging of SnCl2 center dot 2H(2)O, NH4HCO3, SiC, and 2-methylimidazole powders. The photocatalysts were mainly composed of SiC and SnO2. When the SiC content of the raw materials was higher, small amounts of Sn6O4(OH)(4)also existed in the product. TEM results show that SiC nanocrystallines were well combined with SnO(2)nanosheets. These SnO2/SiC photocatalysts showed good photocatalytic degradation efficiency to methyl orange (MO) under visible-light irradiation. The MO was rapidly reduced by 99% within 45 min by SiC/SnO(2)composite. The excellent photocatalytic performance was mainly attributed to the formation of SnO2/SiC heterojunction, which reduced the recombination of photogenerated electrons and holes.