Hybrid structure of biotemplate-zinc-tin oxide for better optical, morphological and photocatalytic properties

Abstract

A new chitosan (as biotemplate)-zinc-tin oxide hybrid structure was successfully synthesized by a chemical precipitation method and annealed at 500 °C. We studied the structural changes, optical, thermal and photo catalytic properties. The chemical bonding of the Zn-O and Sn-O-Sn functional groups were confirmed by FT-IR absorption peaks appearing at 538 and 635 cm −1 . The different ratio of ZnO to SnO 2 particles on the biotemplate matrix altered the morphology of the hybrids from an agglomerated state to a microcrystalline form confirmed by HR-SEM and TEM analysis. The formation of a Zn 0.15 Sn 0.85 O hybrid structure was observed in the visible light region, with an energy band gap of ∼3.19 eV and higher surface area of 98 m 2 g −1 . The thermal property shows that CS-Zn 0.15 Sn 0.85 O has a higher thermal stability than a CS-Zn 0.25 Sn 0.75 O hybrid structure. The results demonstrate that the biotemplate-zinc-tin oxide hybrid structure has a reinforced effect compared to the other components. Therefore, a biotemplate-based zinc-tin oxide hybrid structure could be a promising material for better dye removal efficiency, which was obtained for ∼100 and 96% with MB and RY-15 dyes.