Iron doped SnO2/Co3O4 nanocomposites synthesized by sol-gel and precipitation method for metronidazole antibiotic degradation

Sol-gel and precipitation reaction methods were used to synthesize Un-doped and Fe-doped SnO2/Co3O4 nano composites under UV light; the synthesized nanocomposites were applied for the photocatalytic degradation of metronidazole antibiotic. The developed photo catalyst was well characterized using energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer (EDX), X-ray diffraction (XRD), vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), UV-Visible and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. Effective parameters such as pH, photocatalyst dose and contact time was optimized and well investigated. From the obtained facts it is clear that the 98.3% of MTZ was degraded with in 15 min, pH 6 and 0.1 g catalyst when the Fe molar ratio was 1:1 at %. As compared to results obtained from un-doped SnO2/Co3O4 nanocomposites Fe doped SnO2/Co3O4 nanocomposites possess greater photocatalytic efficiency. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.