Hydrothermal synthesis of tin sulfide nanoparticles for photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue.

SnS nanoparticles (NPs) were synthesized at different reaction temperatures in the range of 150℃-180℃ (in step size of 10℃) via hydrothermal method using Urea as complexing agent. The structural, morphological, and optical properties of the synthesized nanoparticles were investigated using X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), Energy-dispersive X-Ray analysis (EDS), and UV–VIS by diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. Analysis of the XRD spectra for synthesized SnS nanoparticles at different reaction temperature are in good agreement with JCPDS card number 001–0984 with preferred orientation of grains along (0 1 3) plane. The EDS analysis suggests that SnS nanoparticles are tin deficient. The energy band gap estimated for SnS nanoparticles synthesized at different reaction temperature are in the range of 1.24 eV to 1.27 eV. Synthesized SnS nanoparticles prepared at reaction temperature of 170℃ were used for photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue (MB) dye under visible light irradiation. The Average photo degradation efficiencies of the SnS NPs for MB dye were found to be 72% for an irradiation time of 150 min. The higher efficiency of SnS nanoparticles may be due to deficiency of tin that is capable of enhanced adsorption sites for photocatalytic oxidation of MB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]