High photocatalytic activity of C-ZnSn(OH)6 catalysts prepared by hydrothermal method

• C-ZnSn(OH)6 photocatalysts were prepared by a facile and economical process.
• 0.58% C-ZnSn(OH)6 shows higher UV light photocatalytic activity than P25.
• MO and phenol degradation by oxidative pathway is the main degradation mechanism.
• The enhanced photocatalytic activities of C-ZnSn(OH)6 catalysts were discussed.

Carbon-doped nano-ZnSn(OH)6 (C-ZnSn(OH)6) photocatalysts with different weight percents of carbon were successfully synthesized by a facile and economical hydrothermal process at 433 K, and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy, UV–vis diffuse reflection spectroscopy (UV–vis DRS) and nitrogen physisorption studies. The photocatalytic activity was evaluated on the degradation of organic pollutants under ultraviolet (UV) light illumination. The results showed that compared to commercial P25 and pure ZnSn(OH)6, the photocatalytic performance of 0.58% C-ZnSn(OH)6 was remarkably improved. The photocatalytic conversion ratio of benzene and cyclohexane by 0.58% C-ZnSn(OH)6 was up to 77% and 50.5%, which is about 16.0 and 1.39, 12.3 and 6.39 times higher than that of P25 and pure ZnSn(OH)6, respectively. The 0.58% C-ZnSn(OH)6 catalyst also exhibited high photocatalytic activity toward methyl orange (MO) and phenol in suspended solution. Based on the characterization results and the detection of active species, the enhanced photocatalytic activities of C-ZnSn(OH)6 catalysts were discussed.

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