Synthesis of SnO2 and ZnO Nanoparticles and SnO2-ZnO Hybrid for the Photocatalytic Oxidation of Methyl Orange

The aim of the current research is concentrated on the synthesis of the different nanoparticles such as SnO2 and ZnO nanoparticles and SnO2-ZnO hybrid via sol gel method to investigate their photocatalytic applications for removal of methyl orange pollutant in water. Therefore, ZnCl2 and SnCl2.2H2O were used as ZnO and SnO2 source respectively. The samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and UV-Vis spectroscopy. XRD results revealed that the crystalline structure of SnO2 and ZnO nanoparticles were formed. FTIR analysis confirmed the presence of ZnO and SnO2 nanoparticles. Optical properties of samples measured using UV-Vis spectrophotometer and the achieved results demonstrated that the photocatalytic activity ofSnO2-ZnO hybrid for the degradation of methyl orange is higher than that of SnO2 nanoparticles and lower than that of ZnO nanoparticles. Weight fraction dependence study also showed that the degradation of methyl orange dye increases with weight fraction. The experimental results revealed that after 35 min UV light irradiation, the photocatalytic degradation of MO using 0.5 g ZnO, hybrid of ZnOSnO2 and SnO2 nanoparticles reached to 99.35%, 92.14% and 87.91%, respectively. In addition, maximum removal efficiency of MO was related to the suspension containing of 0.5 g of ZnO hybrid equal to 99.35%.