Synthesis, characterization and photocatalytic activity of LaNdZr2O7 supported SnSe nanocomposites for the degradation of Foron blue dye

The present investigation reports a facile strategy for the synthesis of stable as well as visible-light active LaNdZr2O7/SnSe composite photocatalysts for applications in the degradation of Foron Blue azo dye. The assynthesized photocatalysts have been characterized via several characterization techniques including x-ray diffraction (XRD) to confirm the phase of materials, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) coupled with energy- dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) to investigate the surface morphology as well as composition of synthesized materials, particle size distribution (PSD) and UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) along with x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) in order to draw the alignment of energy levels from the bandgap and valence band positions of photocatalysts, respectively. Foron Blue was degraded with a maximum efficiency up to 86.3% under visible-light illumination in 60 min by composite photocatalyst which is much higher as compared to SnSe and LaNdZr2O7 photocatalysts. The higher photocatalytic activity over the composite might be attributed to efficient charge separation.