SnO2(β-Bi2O3)/Bi2Sn2O7 nanohybrids doped with Pt and Pd nanoparticles: applications in visible light photocatalysis, electrical conductivity and dye-sensitized solar cells

Bi2O3–SnO2 nanocomposites formed at a nominal molar ratio of 3 : 1 and loaded with Pd/Pt nanoparticles synthesized by a sol gel-hydrothermal method with the aid of a template were thoroughly characterized by X-ray diffraction, TEM-EDX, N2 sorptiometry, diffuse reflectance UV-Vis, FTIR, photoluminescence and electrical conductivity. It has been shown that Pd and Pt stimulate the existence of β-Bi2O3 and SnO2, respectively together with the key component Bi2Sn2O7. The photocatalytic results indicate that Pd/β-Bi2O3–Bi2Sn2O7 revealed a remarkable performance for the degradation of methylene blue (MB) dye as compared to the Pt/SnO2–Bi2Sn2O7 and Bi2O3–SnO2 samples in both the UV and visible regions. The enhanced photocatalytic activity of the Pd/β-Bi2O3–Bi2Sn2O7 nanocomposite is primarily attributed to the broad contact between the β-Bi2O3 and Bi2Sn2O7 phases, which indicates high mesoporosity and heterojunction structures resulting in separation efficacy between photo-induced electron–hole pairs. Specifically, the photosensitive β-Bi2O3 is easily excited and released electrons to be accepted by Bi2Sn2O7 and Pd that might be deposited in the interlayer between β-Bi2O3 and Bi2Sn2O7. The degradation mechanism of MB over Pd/β-Bi2O3–Bi2Sn2O7 in the visible region showed that the dye degradation proceeds through evolution of ˙O2− and ˙OH radicals as evaluated using photoluminescence and free radical trapping experiments. An insight into the electrical properties including the dielectric constant and impedance of the materials indicates that Pd/β-Bi2O3–Bi2Sn2O7 has the highest conductivity based on increasing the ionic transport and defects at the β-Bi2O3/Bi2Sn2O7 heterojunction. This material displayed an improved photocurrent response of a higher power conversion efficiency, exceeding that of Pt/SnO2–Bi2Sn2O7 and SnBi3 by 50% and 250%, respectively, in dye-sensitized solar cells. Picosecond-resolved photoluminescence (PL) and polarization gated PL anisotropy measurements were combined to clarify the process of FRET from the excited Pd/β-Bi2O3–Bi2Sn2O7 to SD N719. This indicates that the latter structure can be proposed as a multifunctional candidate for use in dye-sensitized solar cells, as an electrical material and as an efficient photocatalyst based on its versatile structure.