STM Journals Peer-reviewed research from Consortium e-Learning Network

Journal of Nanoscience, NanoEngineering & Applications

Investigation of Photocatalytic Properties of Microwave Hydrothermal Synthesized ZnO, SnO2 and ZnO/SnO2 Nanocomposites

  1. J.V.S.S.D. Perera
  2. P.G.D.C.K. Karunarathna
  3. Pubudu Samarasekara

Abstract

The coupled ZnO-SnO2 photocatalyst system is one of the coupled semiconductor systems which is extensively employed in photocatalytic applications. ZnO, SnO2 and ZnO/SnO2 composite nanoparticles with three different molar ratios were successfully synthesized via a simple, low cost microwave assisted method using zinc nitrate (Zn(NO3)2.6H2O) and stannous chloride (SnCl2.2H2O) as precursors. The ZnO/SnO2 nanoparticles exhibited higher photocatalytic activities compared to pure ZnO, SnO2 nanoparticles and appreciable highest photocatalytic activity, and the photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue was obtained for 2:1 Zn:Sn molar ratio up to 85.7% with respective time duration of 120 minutes. The outcomes also demonstrated that the nanocomposite’s Zn to Sn molar ratio significantly influences the photodegradation of MB.

Keywords

Support