Silica–tin nanotubes prepared from rice husk ash by sol–gel method: Characterization and its photocatalytic activity

Silica–tin material has been synthesized by simple sol–gel method using rice husk ash as the source of silica and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide as the surfactant at room temperature. Calcination of the material at 500 °C for 5 h gave nanotubes with external diameter of 2–4 nm and an internal diameter of 1–2 nm. The BET specific surface area was found to be 607 m2 g−1. Nitrogen sorption analysis exhibits a type IV isotherm with H3 hysteresis loop. The powder X-ray diffraction pattern showed that the material is amorphous. The photocatalytic activity of the prepared material was studied towards degradation of methylene blue under UV-irradiation. According to the experimental results the silica–tin nanotubes exhibit high photocatalytic activity compared to pure rice husk silica.