Abstract
A new composite oxide (NiO/SnO
2
) photocatalyst was synthesized by simple co-precipitation route. The structural elucidation of composite oxide photocatalyst was carried out via X-rays diffraction (XRD) technique. The morphology was determined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The Fourier transform infra-red (FTIR) and UV-visible spectroscopic techniques revealed the spectral and optical features. XRD analysis confirmed the formation of binary metal oxide nanocomposite comprising NiO in cubic and SnO
2
in the tetragonal crystalline phase. The crystallite size for NiO/SnO
2
calculated from XRD was < 15 nm. The spectroscopic studies also supported the XRD data. The morphological study of NiO/SnO
2
revealed the formation of relatively small rounded nanoparticles. The solar light driven photocatalytic degradation study showed about 54% degradation of methylene blue and 34% degradation of Congo red and the value of rate constant for NiO/SnO
2
was found to be 0.0059 min
−1
. The mechanism of degradation of dyes was also explored and discussed.