Green chemical approach for the synthesis of SnO2 nanoparticles and its application in photocatalytic degradation of Eriochrome Black T dye

In this paper, SnO2 nanoparticles (SnO2-NPs) were synthesized by a simple and green sol-gel route which had involved the usage of chitosan at different temperatures for performing polymerization and proceed with certain factors such as increasing the stability, preventing aggregation, and reducing the toxicity of particles. The obtained SnO2-NPs have been investigated through the means of FTIR, TGA/DTA, XRD, EDX/FESEM, TEM, and UV-Vis analyses. The spherical shape of these nanoparticles has been exhibited by the FESEM images, while the XRD studies have confirmed their tetragonal crystalline structure that had contained an average size of 25.6 nm. As the next steps, the photocatalytic activity of SnO2-NPs was evaluated the in regards to the degradation of Eriochrome Black T (EBT) dye under irradiation of mercury vapor lamp (500 W) for 270 min and degradation percentage has been estimated about 77%.

Automated summary

In this study, SnO2 nanoparticles were synthesized using chitosan as an assistant, characterized through various analytical techniques, and showed promising photocatalytic activity for the degradation of Eriochrome Black T dye.