UV light-assisted synthesis of coral SnO2: Characterization and its enhanced photocatalytic properties

A UV light-assisted route has been used to synthesis coral SnO2 nanoparticles. Annealing is introduced to crystallize samples and exclude impurities without changing the morphology. Powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and UV–vis spectra are used to characterize the SnO2 samples and the detailed formation mechanism is discussed based on the experiment results. The products are of different sizes and morphologies depending on the light irradiation time. Compared with commercial SnO2, the coral SnO2 have improved photocatalytic performance toward methyl orange (MO) solution due to its large high specific surface.