Photocatalytic activity of Zn 2 SnO 4 –SnO 2 nanocomposites produced by sonochemistry in combination with high temperature calcination Patcharanan Junploy a , Somchai Thongtem b,c,⇑ , Titipun Thongtem a,c,⇑ , Anukorn Phuruangrat d a Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50200, Thailand b Department of Physics and Materials Science, Faculty of Science, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50200, Thailand c Materials Science Research Center, Faculty of Science, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50200, Thailand d Department of Materials Science and Technology, Faculty of Science, Prince of Songkla University, Hat Yai, Songkhla 90112, Thailand article info Article history: Received 9 March 2014 Received in revised form 11 June 2014 Accepted 20 June 2014 Available online 2 July 2014 Keywords: Sonochemistry–calcination combination ZTO(NC)–SnO 2 ZTO(NP)–SnO 2 Photocatalysis abstract Zn 2 SnO 4 nanocubes–SnO 2 (ZTO(NC)–SnO 2 ) and Zn 2 SnO 4 nanopar- ticles–SnO 2 (ZTO(NP)–SnO 2 ) were successfully produced by a com- bination of sonochemical route in mixture solvents of different contents of ethylene glycol – de-ionized water and high tempera- ture calcination. The phase and morphology were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning elec- tron microscopy (FE-SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). ZTO(NP)– SnO 2 nanocomposites exhibit higher photocatalytic activity than ZTO(NC)–SnO 2 through the degradation of methylene blue (MB) dye under UV light. Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Photocatalysis using metal oxide as catalysts has been widely studied for promoting degradation of organic pollutants. The present process, photon with energies corresponding to or exceeding the http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.spmi.2014.06.015 0749-6036/Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. ⇑ Corresponding authors at: Department of Physics and Materials Science, Faculty of Science, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50200, Thailand. Tel.: +66 (0)53 941924; fax: +66 (0)53 943445 (S. Thongtem). Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50200, Thailand. Tel.: +66 (0)53 943344; fax: +66 (0)53 892277 (T. Thongtem). E-mail addresses: schthongtem@yahoo.com (S. Thongtem), ttpthongtem@yahoo.com (T. Thongtem). Superlattices and Microstructures 74 (2014) 173–183 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Superlattices and Microstructures journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/superlattices