Green Synthesis of SnO2 Nanoparticles and Its Application as Photocatalyst in the Degradation of Dye

A green synthesis of SnO2 nanoparticles was developed by microwave heating method using the amino acid glycine. This method resulted in the formation of spherical SnO2 nanoparticles having an average diameter of similar to 5 nm. Semiconductor nanoparticles show quantum confinement effect and due to this effect the band gap energy increases with a decrease in particle size. The band gap energy of synthesized SnO2 nanoparticles was found to be 4.3 eV. Hence, the band gap energy of synthesized SnO2 nanoparticles showed a clear blue shift from the bulk SnO2 due to quantum confinement effect. The synthesized SnO2 nanoparticles were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), selected area electron diffraction (SAED). The optical properties were investigated by UV-visible spectroscopy. The photocatalytic activity of synthesized SnO2 nanoparticles was evaluated by carrying out the degradation of Methylene blue dye under direct sunlight using SnO2 nanoparticles as photocatalyst.