Hydrothermal synthesis of SnO2 particles for the degradation of Methylene Blue (MB) dye in presence of sunlight

TL;DR

This study synthesized SnO2 nanoparticles via hydrothermal method, analyzing how surfactants influence their properties and demonstrating enhanced photocatalytic degradation of Methylene Blue dye under sunlight.

Contribution

It introduces a controlled hydrothermal synthesis process to tailor SnO2 nanoparticle properties for improved photocatalytic activity.

Findings

SnO2 nanoparticles with tetragonal rutile phase were confirmed.

Surfactant type significantly affects nanoparticle size, shape, and crystallinity.

PEG surfactant enhances photocatalytic performance in dye degradation.

Abstract

Three distinct samples were proceed through synthesis utilizing the hydrothermal method to develop tin dioxide (SnO2) nanoparticles. Consistency in all other parameters was ensured by maintaining a constant temperature and time throughout the synthesis. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to examine how the surfactant affected the structural, morphological, and crystallographic characteristics. A tetragonal rutile SnO2 phase was confirmed to have formed by XRD investigation, with high crystallinity indicated by strong diffraction peaks. Higher precursor concentration samples showed aggregation, indicating that the smaller size of the nanoparticles caused them to interact. These findings show that changing the surfactant has a major impact on the crystallinity, size, and shape of SnO2 nanoparticles, which makes this technique establish for certain uses, including energy storage, gas sensors, and photocatalysis. Additionally, we examined the photocatalytic activity of the aforementioned samples, indicating from the UV-vis characterization results that the sample containing PEG as a surfactant performs better than others.