Influence of Post Annealing on SnO2 Nanoparticles and its Photocatalytic Activity in Methylene Blue Dye Degradation

Abstract

SnO2 nanoparticles were synthesized using flux method. Synthesized SnO2 nanoparticles were characterized for their structure and morphology using X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy respectively. The average particle size of as synthesized SnO2 nanoparticles was about 60 nm and the diameter of nanoparticles increases with increasing annealing temperature by keeping its spherical shape. Photocatalytic properties of as synthesized and annealed nanoparticles were studied for methyl blue organic dye under UV light. Pristine SnO2 nanoparticles were found to be highly photocatalytic active and with increasing annealing temperature the photocatalytic activity decreases.