Synthesis, characterization and tin/copper-nitrogen substitutional effect on photocatalytic activity of honeycomb ordered P2-Na sub(2) Ni sub(2) TeO sub(6)

We have successfully prepared visible light active tin/copper-nitrogen co-doped honeycomb ordered P2-Na sub(2) Ni sub(2) TeO sub(6) photocatalysts by solid state/ion exchange methods. Powder XRD, TG analysis, SEM, surface area, O-N-H analysis, ICP-OES, FT-IR and UV-DRS measurements are employed to characterize all the samples. All the doped compositions adopted hexagonal lattice with space group P6 sub(3)/mcm. The photocatalytic activity of all the samples was studied against the degradation of methyl violet (MV) and methylene blue (MB) under visible light irradiation. The variation of the photocatalytic activity due to the substitution of cation, anion and co-doping in Na sub(2) Ni sub(2) TeO sub(6) is investigated. Co-doped samples have exhibited higher activity compared to rest of the materials. The role of reactive intermediate species in the photocatalytic degradation of dyes is also studied using appropriate scavengers.