Preparation and characterization studies of silica tin nanospheres from Indian rice husk for suitable photocatalytic applications

Abstract

The synthesis of nanomaterials is advancing due to its ease of synthesis, inexpensiveness, nontoxicity, and renewability. In the present study, an eco-friendly sol–gel method was employed to prepare silica tin nanospheres from Indian rice husks. We used cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide as the surfactant at room temperature. The calcination of the material at 1000 °C for 24 h gave nanospheres with a diameter of 3–5 nm. The PXRD pattern confirms that the material is amorphous. The FTIR analysis confirms the existing functional groups of silica tin nanospheres. The optical properties of silica tin nanospheres were evaluated using UV visible spectra analysis. The Energy gap of the silica tin nanospheres was calculated and it was found to be 4.85 eV. Using DLS measurements the size of the silica tin nanospheres was estimated to lie between 43 nm and 226 nm and the particles having 108 nm diameter showed an intensity of 90 %. The dielectric properties of silica tin nanospheres were studied in the range of 1 Hz to 1000 MHz at various temperatures. The dielectric properties of silica tin nanospheres were found to be significantly enhanced, especially in the low-frequency range due to quantum confinement. Besides, the values such as valency electron plasma energy, Penn energy, fermi energy, and electric polarizability were evaluated. From the SEM analysis it is observed that the material is nanosized sphere. Also, the SEM analysis reveals that the spherical structure has a high porous and uniformly agglomerated structure. The study of the elemental composition of silica tin nanospheres through XRF analysis has been carried out.