A Novel Route to Prepare ZnO-SnO2 Nanocomposite with High Photocatalytic Activity

A nanometer coupled oxide ZnO-SnO(2) was prepared by the fractional homogeneous co-precipitation route using urea as the latent precipitant under boiling reflux condition. The samples prepared from different initial concentrations of urea or at different calcination temperatures were characterized by X-ray diffration (XRD) or transmission electron microscopy (TEM). It was found that the coupled oxides ZnO-SnO(2) mainly consist of nanosized ZnO and SnO(2), the calcination temperature had obvious effect on the phase composition and the crystal size of the samples obtained, and the precipitant concentration also had obvious effect on the oxide particles size and the production rate of ZnO. Moreover, their photocatalytic activity was investigated for the liquids-phase photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange (MO) in water under UV light irradiation.The coupled oxides showed better photocatalytic activity for the degradation of MO than the pure ZnO or SnO(2).