Synthesis and characterization of zinc stannate decorated on graphitic carbon nitride and study its potential for degradation of Eriochrome Black T and erythrosine under simulated sunlight

A key strategy for facilitating effective long-term photoinduced carrier separation and improving the photocatalytic efficiency of single photocatalysts is the development of heterojunction photocatalysts. The present study reports the fabrication of zinc stannate (ZnSnO₃, ZSO) using an effortless and inexpensive sonochemical approach, and zinc stannate/graphitic carbon nitride (ZnSnO₃/g-C₃N₄, ZSO/CN) nanocomposites with various contents of ZSO using a co-precipitation process assisted by ultrasound. Different instruments, including XRD, FTIR, FESEM, EDS, TEM, DRS, PL, BET, were used to characterize the purity, morphology, and structures of the products. The DRS data revealed that the introduction of CN reduced the bandgap of ZSO, which made it suitable for working in the visible region. The proficiency of ZSO, CN, and diverse ZSO/CN nanocomposites was perused for erythrosine (ER) and eriochrome black T (EBT) degradation. This is the first time ZSO/CN nanocomposites have been used to degrade organic dyes. The outcomes demonstrated that multiple elements impacted proficiency, for example, the amount of ZSO, quantity of catalyst, and concentration of dye. ZSO/CN nanocomposite containing 0.1 g ZSO showed the highest proficiency, in that 89.8 % of ER was degraded in the presence of 70 mg of ZSO/CN (0.1:1). The scavenger trials unveiled that superoxide radicals exhibited outstanding characteristics in the photoreactions. The kinetics survey manifested that a superior proficiency (89.8 %) donated the maximum rate constant (k = 0.0248 min⁻¹).