Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Synthesis, characterization and photocatalytic activity of ZnO-SnO2 nanocomposites

2013; Elsevier BV; Volume: 178; Issue: 20 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/j.mseb.2013.08.008

1873-4944

Abdessalem Hamrouni, Hinda Lachheb, Ammar Houas,

ZnO doping and properties

Nanocomposites of coupled ZnO-SnO2 photocatalysts were synthesized by the coprecipitation method and were characterized by X-ray diffraction, UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, surface area analyzer and scanning electron microscopy. Their photocatalytic activity was investigated under UV, visible and solar light and evaluated using methylene blue (MB) as a model pollutant. The performance of the coupled ZnO-SnO2 photocatalysts was found to be related to the Zn/Sn molar ratio and to the calcination conditions. The photocatalyst with a Zn/Sn molar ratio of 1:0.05 calcined at 600 °C for 2 h showed the maximum degradation rate of MB under different lights used. Its photocatalytic activity was found to be about two times that of ZnO and about 10 times that of SnO2 which can be explained by the heterojunction effect. Charge separation mechanism has been studied.