Sol–gel mediated microwave synthesis of pure, La and Zr doped SnS₂ nanoflowers an efficient photocatalyst for the degradation of methylene blue

La and Zr intercalated SnS₂ nanostructures have been synthesised using facile sol–gel mediated microwave method. Photocatalytic activity of methylene blue dye was investigated using the synthesized nanosturctures and superior photocatalytic activity was witnessed for the La and Zr intercalated SnS₂ than the pure SnS₂ nanoflower. It is attributed to the enhanced surface charge carriers and fast electron transport inside the lattice of SnS₂. Enlargement on surface active sites in turn increases surface absorption effect due to La and Zr which acts as tentacles to control the recombination process and promotes the higher photoredox reaction. The synthesized nanomaterials were characterized using PXRD, Raman, PL, UV–Vis spectroscopy, FE-SEM and XPS. It is noted from the structural analysis that the decrease in cell volume with increase of doping concentration contributes to Moss-Burstein effect. The increment of band gap and quenching in the photoluminescence effect supported the absorptivity of photoenergies which served as photosensitizer.