Effects of Zn-doping on the photocatalytic activity and microstructures of nanocrystalline SnO₂ powders

In this study, undoped and Zn-doped SnO₂ nanoparticles in different concentrations were synthesized by flame spray pyrolysis (FSP) technique. The produced particles were post-annealed after FSP process at 600 °C in order to obtain a crystalline structure. The structural analysis of the produced powders was performed by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) methods. The surface morphology of the nanoparticles was identified using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). In addition, photocatalytic degradation of aqueous methylene blue (MB) solutions were evaluated using undoped and Zn-doped SnO₂ nanoparticles under UV light illumination. Photocatalytic degradation of the MB solutions followed the pseudo-first-order-kinetics and the effect of the Zn doping amount on the photocatalytic reaction was investigated.