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Concurrent synthesis of SnO/SnO2 nanocomposites and their enhanced photocatalytic activity

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Abstract

The SnO/SnO2 nanocomposites were synthesized using semisolvothermal reaction technique. These nanocomposites were prepared using different combination of solvents viz., ethanol, water, and ethylene glycol at 180 °C for 24 h. The synthesized nanocomposites were analyzed with various characterization techniques. Structural analysis indicates the formation of tetragonal phase of SnO2 for the sample prepared in ethanol, whereas for other solvent combinations, the mixture of SnO and SnO2 having tetragonal crystal structures were observed. The optical study shows enhanced absorbance in the visible region for all the prepared SnO/SnO2 nanocomposites. The observed band gap was found to be in the range of 3.0 to 3.25 eV. Microstructural determinations confirm the formation of nanostructures having spherical as well as rod-like morphology. The size of nanoparticles in ethanol-mediated solvent was found to be in the range of 5 to 7 nm. Thermogravimetric analysis indicate the weight gain around 1.3 wt% confirming the conversion of SnO to SnO2 material. The photocatalytic activity of synthesized nanocomposites was evaluated by following the aqueous methylene blue (MB) degradation. The sample prepared in ethylene glycol-mediated solvent showed highest photoactivity having apparent rate constant (Kapp) 0.62 × 10−2 min−1.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY) and Department of Science & Technology (DST), New Delhi, India for providing financial support to undertake this work successfully.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Materials for Electronics Technology (C-MET), Off Pashan Road, Pune, 411008, India

    Animesh Roy, Sudhir Arbuj, Yogesh Waghadkar, Manish Shinde, Govind Umarji, Sunit Rane & Ratna Chauhan

  2. Department of Technology, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune, 411007, India

    Yogesh Waghadkar

  3. Center for Materials Characterization, National Chemical Laboratory (NCL), Pune, 411008, India

    Kashinath Patil

  4. Department of Physics, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune, 411007, India

    Suresh Gosavi

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  1. Animesh Roy
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Correspondence to Ratna Chauhan.

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Roy, A., Arbuj, S., Waghadkar, Y. et al. Concurrent synthesis of SnO/SnO2 nanocomposites and their enhanced photocatalytic activity. J Solid State Electrochem 21, 9–17 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10008-016-3328-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10008-016-3328-y

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