Effect of mechanical milling on structural and photocatalytic properties of chemically synthesized ZnSnO3nanopowder

In this work, we report the structural and photocatalytic properties of chemically synthesized unmilled (0 hr) and mechanically milled (0.5 hr and 2 hrs.) ZnSnO(3)nano-powder. Samples were calcined at 700 degrees C after synthesis. Prepared samples were characterized by XRD, FESEM, EDX and UV-Vis spectroscopy. Rietveld refinement of x-ray diffraction was employed for microstructural analysis and this confirms successful synthesis of pure, single phase orthorhombic ZnSnO3 with space group Pnma. Grain size was also evaluated from FE-SEM micrographs using Image-J software. It was noticed that the optical band gap value (analyzed by UV-Vis spectroscopy) of the milled sample is greater than the unmilled sample indicating quantum confinement effect. Photocatalytic activity of ZnSnO3 catalysts was investigated using a model organic pollutant Congo red under visible light irradiation. Milled ZnSnO3 catalyst with lower grain size showed superior photocatalytic property in our studies. Attempt was made to correlate photocatalytic properties with variation of grain size and microstrain of the unmilled and milled sample. Copyright (c) 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.