Molten-Salt Flux Mediated Synthesis of ZnO-SnO2 Composites: Effects of Surface Areas and Crystallinities on Photocatalytic Activity

30 December 2020, Version 1
This content is a preprint and has not undergone peer review at the time of posting.

Abstract

In this study, ZnO-SnO2 composites were synthesized using flux synthesis, a synthetic approach different from previous studies, in which molten ZnCl2 acted both as a reactant and as the flux for the reaction. Their photocatalytic properties were measured for the degradation of the organic dye, methylene blue. It was found that as the temperatures of the synthesis increase, the specific surface areas of the ZnO-SnO2 composites decrease, which would decrease their photocatalytic activities due to decreased adsorption of the dye on the surface of the composites; while their crystallinity increases, which would increase their photocatalytic activities due to the smaller concentration of defects and thus improved mobility of the charge carriers. An interplay of those two factors affects their photocatalytic activities, with the composite with the highest photocatalytic activity degrading approximately 95% of the methylene blue dye within 10 minutes. By changing the temperature of the flux synthesis alone, the crystallinity and surface area of the ZnO-SnO2 composite can be changed, which provides a possible way to obtain ZnO-SnO2 composites with relatively high crystallinity and surface area to maximize their photocatalytic activity.

Keywords

ZnO-SnO2 composite
photocatalysis
surface area
crystallinity
photocatalytic dye degradation
photocatalytic dye degradation rate

Supplementary materials

Title
Description
Actions
Title
Supplementary Information
Description
Actions

Comments

Comments are not moderated before they are posted, but they can be removed by the site moderators if they are found to be in contravention of our Commenting Policy [opens in a new tab] - please read this policy before you post. Comments should be used for scholarly discussion of the content in question. You can find more information about how to use the commenting feature here [opens in a new tab] .
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy [opens in a new tab] and Terms of Service [opens in a new tab] apply.