Synthesis and Investigation of Structural, Microstructural and Optical Properties of Iron-doped Sno2 Nanoparticles : Application in Photocatalysis

Abstract Iron-doped tin dioxide nanoparticles Sn 1-x Fe x O 2 (0% ≤ x ≤ 10% ), were prepared by coprecipitation method. X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns indicate that Sn 1-x Fe x O 2 nanoparticles (NPs) crystallize in the tetragonal rutile-like structure. Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) observations did not show more modification of the SnO 2 morphology with Fe addition. All the results are consistent with the fact that Fe is strongly soluble in SnO 2 host. The optical band gap energy decreased from 3.65 to 3.30 eV with increasing the iron doping concentration in the solution. Finally, the photocatalytic efficiency of Fe 0.05 Sn 0.95 O 2 nanoparticles (NPs) was examined for the degradation of MB in aqueous solution under UV irradiation. It was found that smaller bandgap of Fe doped SnO 2 photocatalyst resulted in a prominent increase in photocatalytic activity of nanoparticles against Methylene Blue (MB) under UV irradiaion.