Structure and property investigation of composite ZnO/SnO2 nanocrystalline particles after high-pressure treatment

AbstractComposite ZnO/SnO2 nanocrystalline particles (ZnO/SnO2) were synthesized by sol-gel method and with treatment of high pressure at 6GPa. The crystallinity and the particle size of the prepared samples were analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectroscopy. The results indicated that all the samples had the good crystallinity, and the particle size of ZnO and ZnO/SnO2 decreased after high-pressure treatment. The infrared (IR) spectra showed that the distance of crystal lattice was shortened after high-pressure treatment, and the size distribution became more uneven after SnO2 doping. With the high-resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM), we got some morphology information and evidence to support the IR and XRD analysis results. The results of ultraviolet-visible absorption (UV-Vis) spectra showed that ZnO/SnO2 might improve the photocatalytic property of the samples after high-pressure treatment.