  Environmental contamination and human exposure to dyes have dramatically
increased over the past decades because of their increasing use in such
industries as textiles, paper, plastics, tannery and paints. These dyes can
cause deterioration in water quality by imparting color to the water and
inducing the photosynthetic activity of aquatic organisms by hindering light
penetration. Moreover, some of the dyes are considered carcinogenic and
mutagenic for human health. Therefore, efficient treatment and removal of dyes
from wastewater have attracted considerable attention in recent years.
Photocatalysis, due to its mild reaction condition, high degradation, broad
applied area and facile manipulation, is a promising method of solving
environmental pollution problems. In this paper, we report the synthesis of
graphene oxide-tin oxide (GO-SnO2) nanocomposite and the effectiveness of this
composite in decolorizing Methylene Blue. Tin oxide was prepared by liquid
phase co-precipitation method and graphene oxide-tin oxide (GOSnO2)
nanocomposite were prepared by solution mixing method. Tin oxide (SnO2)
nanoparticles have been ardently investigated as photocatalyst for water
purification and environment decontamination but the photon generated electron
and hole pair (EHP) recombination is one of the limiting factors. Graphene
oxide-tin oxide (GO-SnO2) nanocomposite is very propitious to overcome this
limitation for photocatalytic application. The as-synthesized graphene oxide
(GO) and GO-SnO2 nanocomposite were characterized by X-ray Diffraction (XRD),
Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX).
The GO-SnO2 nanocomposite showed better photocatalytic degradation efficiency
for Methylene Blue compared to SnO2 and Graphene oxide.
  Keywords: Graphene Oxide(GO),Methylene Blue, Nanocomposite, Photocatalyst,
Photodegradation, Tin Oxide(SnO2).
