Ionic Liquid-Assisted Synthesis, Characterization and Photocatalytic Properties of SnO Microflowers with Nanosheet Subunits

In this study, simple ionic liquid-assisted preparation of SnO microflowers with nanosheet subunits under reflux condition without calcination are described. Samples are synthesized using 1-pentyl-3-methylimidazolium bromide, [pmim]Br, as an ionic liquid in different molar ratios, sodium hydroxide and Tin(II) chloride. The results showed that SnO was obtained with high purity and uniform size distribution using 1:4:4 molar ratios of SnCl2/NaOH/IL by simple reflux method and the ionic liquid only acted as a suitable template. The characterization of the products were carried out by FT-IR, X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDXS) and DRS techniques. Photodegradation of Remazol Black B (RBB) from the aqueous solution was investigated by SnO nanosheets (93.48% dye removal). The rate of degradation of RBB in the presence of SnO is distinctive by the pseudo-first-order kinetic model (R2 > 0.79).