Synthesis and Photocatalytic Properties of Tin(II) Oxide

The effect of the precipitant nature of the tin(II) hydroxoform on the composition, structure, and surface morphology of samples based on tin(II) oxide prepared by precipitation under the same conditions with various precipitants: NaOH, a mixture of NaOH with hexamethylenetetramine, and NH3 solution, was studied. It was found by X-ray phase analysis with Rietveld refinement that the SnO structure is sensitive to the composition of the precipitant. The addition of hexamethylenetetramine to NaOH leads to the formation of SnO with a distorted tetragonal lattice due to a decrease in the distance between the Sn–Sn atoms. It is shown that the temperature of SnO formation determines the shape of particles, porosity, size of agglomerates, and the width of the forbidden zone of the oxide. The possibility and conditions of preparing SnO samples, which exhibit photocatalytic activity in the model reaction of methyl orange decomposition, have been revealed. It was found that the photocatalytic activity is exhibited by SnO samples without SnO2 impurities with a specific surface area of 5.4, 5.9, 6.8 m2 g–1 and a pore volume of 0.026, 0.034, 0.025 cm3 g–1, respectively.