Sn3O4 microballs as highly efficient photocatalyst for hydrogen generation and degradation of phenol under solar light irradiation

Succinate driven facile hydrothermal method for fabrication of Sn3O4 microballs have been reported. The crystal structure of triclinic Sn3O4 was confirmed by XRD and Raman spectroscopy. The FESEM analysis reveals microball-like morphology made up of irregular contour-like nanostructures with thickness of about 40-80 nm. The optical band gap calculated from optical absorption spectroscopy was found to be 2.62 eV for synthesized Sn3O4. Considering morphology and narrowing of band gap, the photocatalytic activities for hydrogen generation and phenol degradation was investigated under solar light irradiation. Sn3O4 nanostructure exhibited enhanced photocatalytic activities for hydrogen generation and phenol degradation. A maximum H2 generation (88.4 μmol h−1/0.1 g) was obtained using the microball-like Sn3O4, which is higher than earlier reported data. Sn3O4 also exhibits good phenol degradation activity. The high photocatalytic activity of Sn3O4 was considered to be due to narrow band gap and hierarchal microball-like morphology.