Investigation on (Zn) doping and anionic surfactant (SDS) effect on SnO₂ nanostructures for enhanced photocatalytic...

Herein we reported the effect of doping and addition of surfactant on SnO₂ nanostructures for enhanced photocatalytic activity. Pristine SnO₂, Zn-SnO₂ and SDS-(Zn-SnO₂) was prepared via simple co-precipitation method and the product was annealed at 600 °C to obtain a clear phase. The structural, optical, vibrational, morphological characteristics of the synthesized SnO₂, Zn-SnO₂ and SDS-(Zn-SnO₂) product were investigated. SnO₂, Zn-SnO₂ and SDS-(Zn-SnO₂) possess crystallite size of 20 nm, 19 nm and 18 nm correspondingly with tetragonal structure and high purity. The metal oxygen vibrations were present in FT-IR spectra. The obtained bandgap energies of SnO₂, Zn-SnO₂ and SDS-(Zn-SnO₂) were 3.58 eV, 3.51 eV and 2.81 eV due to the effect of dopant and surfactant. This narrowing of bandgap helped in the photocatalytic activity. The morphology of the pristine sample showed poor growth of nanostructures with high level of agglomeration which was effectively reduced for other two samples. Product photocatalytic action was tested beneath visible light of 300 W. SDS-(Zn-SnO₂) nanostructure efficiency showed 90% degradation of RhB dye which is 2.5 times higher than pristine sample. Narrow bandgap, crystallite size, better growth of nanostructures paved the way for SDS-(Zn-SnO₂) to degrade the toxic pollutant. The superior performance and individuality of SDS-(Zn-SnO₂) will makes it a potential competitor on reducing toxic pollutants from wastewater in future research.