Photocatalytic activity of pure, Zn doped and surfactants assisted Zn doped SnO2 nanoparticles for degradation of cationic dye

Abstract

The present work is mainly focused on synthesis and characterization of pure, zinc doped and surfactant assisted Zn doped SnO2 nanoparticles (NPs) using co-precipitation method. The synthesized samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray analysis (EDAX) and UV–Vis spectroscopy and Photoluminescence (PL). The photocatalytic activity of synthesized NPs on degradation of methylene blue dye under UV light irradiation was measured. The rutile tetragonal phase in surfactants assisted Zn doped SnO2 nanoparticles were identified by X-ray diffraction pattern. The crystallite size of Zn doped SnO2 NPs were found to be 9.34 nm and size was increased to 10.58 nm by adding non-ionic surfactant (TRITON). Moreover, a decrease in size of nanoparticles (7.61 and 8.31 nm) was observed while adding cationic (CTAB) and anionic (SDS) surfactants. SEM photographs confirm spherical and quasi spherical shape of NPs. The EDAX analysis indicated the presence of tin and zinc ions. The UV–visible and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy analysis showed the shift around 430 nm nearer to the absorption edges. The surfactants assisted Zn doped SnO2 nanoparticles revealed a great shift from 3.292 eV to 3.695 eV in the band gap values estimated from the Tauc’s plot. Triton assisted Zn doped SnO2 nanoparticles were found to have high photocatalytic activity (80%) and better optical property among the synthesized NPs.