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. 2020 Jun 22;10(40):23554-23565.
doi: 10.1039/d0ra03233f. eCollection 2020 Jun 19.

Facile one-pot synthesis of heterostructure SnO2/ZnO photocatalyst for enhanced photocatalytic degradation of organic dye

Md Tamez Uddin  1 , Md Enamul Hoque  1 , Mitun Chandra Bhoumick  1
Affiliations

Facile one-pot synthesis of heterostructure SnO2/ZnO photocatalyst for enhanced photocatalytic degradation of organic dye

Md Tamez Uddin et al. RSC Adv. .

Abstract

In this work, heterostructure SnO2/ZnO nanocomposite photocatalyst was prepared by a straightforward one step polyol method. The resulting photocatalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), nitrogen adsorption-desorption analyses, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV-vis DRS). The results showed that the synthesized SnO2/ZnO nanocomposites possessed mesoporous wurtzite ZnO and cassiterite SnO2 nanocrystallites. The photocatalytic activity of the prepared SnO2/ZnO photocatalyst was investigated by the degradation of methylene blue dye under UV light irradiation. The heterostructure SnO2/ZnO photocatalyst showed much higher photocatalytic activities for the degradation of methylene blue dye than individual SnO2, ZnO nanomaterials and reference commercial TiO2 P25. This higher photocatalytic degradation activity was due to enhanced charge separation and subsequently the suppression of charge recombination in the SnO2/ZnO photocatalyst resulting from band offsets between SnO2 and ZnO. Finally, these heterostructure SnO2/ZnO nanocatalysts were stable and could be recycled several times without any appreciable change in degradation rate constant which opens new avenues toward potential industrial applications.

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Conflict of interest statement

On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author declares that there is no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1. XRD patterns of as-synthesized samples calcined at 500 °C.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2. (A) TEM image and (B) HRTEM image of SnO2/ZnO nanocomposite.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3. (A) Nitrogen adsorption–desorption isotherms and (B) pore-size distribution of the SnO2/ZnO photocatalyst.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4. XPS spectra of as-synthesized nanoparticles; (A) XPS survey spectra of SnO2/ZnO sample, (B) Zn 2p region, (C) Sn 3d region and (D) O 1s region.
Fig. 5
Fig. 5. UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectra (A) and plots of (F(R)hν)2versus photon energy (hν) (B) of SnO2/ZnO sample calcined at 500 °C.
Fig. 6
Fig. 6. Change in (A) absorbance and (B) color of MB solution with time under UV light irradiation in the presence of SnO2/ZnO nanocomposite.
Fig. 7
Fig. 7. (A) Photocatalytic degradation efficiencies of MB in presence of different photocatalysts under UV light irradiation, (B) kinetics of MB photocatalytic degradation (ln(C0/Ct) versus irradiation time).
Fig. 8
Fig. 8. Cyclic runs in the photodegradation of MB using the SnO2/ZnO photocatalyst under UV-light irradiation.
Fig. 9
Fig. 9. Proposed schematic representation of band positions and the charge transfer process for the heterostructure SnO2/ZnO photocatalyst.
Fig. 10
Fig. 10. COD values of MB before and after photocatalytic degradation with SnO2/ZnO nanocomposite.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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