TY - JOUR
T1 - Visible light photocatalysis of mixed phase zinc stannate/zinc oxide nanostructures precipitated at room temperature in aqueous media
AU - Najam Khan, Muhammad
AU - Al-Hinai, Muna
AU - Al-Hinai, Ashraf
AU - Dutta, Joydeep
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors would like to acknowledge partial financial support from the Chair in Nanotechnology , The Research Council (TRC) , Sultanate of Oman, and the Centre of Excellence in Nanotechnology at the Asian Institute of Technology , Thailand. The authors would also like to thank Mr. Muhammad Ashraf and Mr. Ghulam Murtaza for discussions and assistance in carrying out the statistical interpretation of our data.
PY - 2014/7
Y1 - 2014/7
N2 - Aqueous synthesis was used to obtain zinc stannate (ZTO) nanoparticles by precipitation at room temperature. Pourbaix diagrams were employed to formulate the precipitation reactions and synthesis process. Solution pH was controlled during the synthesis process as a major variable. The synthesized ZTO particles showed good photocatalytic activity under UV light irradiation. In order to improve visible light photocatalytic activity of ZTO nanoparticles, mixed phase zinc stannate/zinc oxide (ZnO) composites were prepared by co-precipitation at room temperature. Effects of precursor concentrations on the size and morphology of the obtained particles are reported. The composite ZTO/ZnO showed better photodegradation under visible light irradiation compared to ZTO and ZnO nanoparticles with methylene blue (MB) as a test chemical contaminant. Experiments were designed to elaborate on the active species for photocatalytic degradation of the dye and are reported here. Benzoquinone (BQ) was found to be the most effective scavenger, reducing the photodegradation considerably, indicating that O2-• plays a major role in MB degradation since 50% reduction in photocatalytic activity was observed.
AB - Aqueous synthesis was used to obtain zinc stannate (ZTO) nanoparticles by precipitation at room temperature. Pourbaix diagrams were employed to formulate the precipitation reactions and synthesis process. Solution pH was controlled during the synthesis process as a major variable. The synthesized ZTO particles showed good photocatalytic activity under UV light irradiation. In order to improve visible light photocatalytic activity of ZTO nanoparticles, mixed phase zinc stannate/zinc oxide (ZnO) composites were prepared by co-precipitation at room temperature. Effects of precursor concentrations on the size and morphology of the obtained particles are reported. The composite ZTO/ZnO showed better photodegradation under visible light irradiation compared to ZTO and ZnO nanoparticles with methylene blue (MB) as a test chemical contaminant. Experiments were designed to elaborate on the active species for photocatalytic degradation of the dye and are reported here. Benzoquinone (BQ) was found to be the most effective scavenger, reducing the photodegradation considerably, indicating that O2-• plays a major role in MB degradation since 50% reduction in photocatalytic activity was observed.
KW - Chemical precipitation
KW - Surface defects
KW - Visible light photocatalysis
KW - ZTO/ZnO composite
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U2 - 10.1016/j.ceramint.2014.01.094
DO - 10.1016/j.ceramint.2014.01.094
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84897455483
SN - 0272-8842
VL - 40
SP - 8743
EP - 8752
JO - Ceramics International
JF - Ceramics International
IS - 6
ER -