High Visible Light Photocatalytic Activity of SnO2‐x Nanocrystals with Rich Oxygen Vacancy. Issue 42 (20th September 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Liu, Quan; Zhan, Hongquan; Huang, Xuchun; Song, Yihui; He, Shenchao; Li, Xiaohong; Wang, Changan; Xie, Zhipeng
• Is Part Of: European journal of inorganic chemistry. Issue 42(2021)
• Page Start: 4370
• Page End: 4376
• Publication Date: 2021-09-20
• Subjects: Hydrothermal synthesis -- Oxygen vacancy -- Photocatalysis -- Tin -- Visible light; Chemistry, Inorganic -- Periodicals; Organometallic chemistry -- Periodicals; Bioinorganic chemistry -- Periodicals; Solid state chemistry -- Periodicals; 546
• DOI: 10.1002/ejic.202100617
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1434-1948

Abstract

Abstract: SnO2‐x nanocrystals were prepared using a simple hydrothermal method by controlling the proportions of Sn 4+ /Sn 2+ precursors. Due to the doping of Sn 2+, the oxygen vacancies could be introduced into SnO2 nanocrystals, and their concentration can be controlled by the amount of doping Sn 2+ . The structural characteristics of SnO2‐x nanocrystals was investigated by X‐ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectra, Raman spectra, UV‐vis diffuse reflectance, photoluminescence spectra and X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The results reveal that the bridging O‐vacancies are dominant in the pure SnO2 while the in‐plane O‐vacancies play a key role in the SnO2‐x . Meanwhile, the higher Sn 2+ concentration, the more structural disorder was produced. According to XPS analysis, the presence of oxygen defects will change the electronic structure of SnO2‐x nanocrystals, which will lead to the valence band moving up and the smaller band gap. The rich oxygen vacancies, the structural disorder and the narrow band gap should greatly improve the visible light harvesting, and result in the excellent photocatalytic activity. Abstract : By controlling the ratio of Sn 4+ to Sn 2+, SnO2‐x nanocrystals with controllable oxygen vacancies were synthesized. Due to the presence of in‐plane oxygen defects, the valence band moves up and the band gap can be narrowed, resulting in high visible light harvesting and excellent photocatalytic activity. The results indicate that the photocatalytic performance of SnO2‐x nanocrystals can be tuned by controlling the oxygen vacancy.