Tin dioxide nanoparticles for waste water treatment: facile synthesis and characterization

Tin dioxide nanoparticles (SnO2 NPs) are synthesized by using Buxus wallichiana (B. Wallichiana) leaf extract. To determine the surface area (138.2 m(2) g(-1)) and pore size of the SnO2 NPs, the nitrogen adsorption-desorption method used. The average crystallite size was determined to be 38 nm using x-ray diffraction (XRD). Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), were used to investigate the structural and optical properties of SnO2 NPs with a band gap of 3.69 eV. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy was used for the chemical analysis. In this experiment, methyl orange (MO) was deteriorated in the presence of artificial sun light for 140 min, where 97.50 percent of the dye decolorized. A 15 ppm solution of MO with the pH 6, was treated in the presence of 20 mg of the catalyst, resulting in the highest photocatalytic activity.