kInfluence of hydrothermal temperature on the structural, morphological, optical and photocatalytic properties of ternary Cu2SnS3 nanoparticles

Controllably synthesis of ternary Cu2SnS3 (CTS) nanoparticles using a simple and green hydrothermal method is presented in this study. The effect of synthesis temperature on the formation of CTS nanoparticles and its uti-lization as a catalyst for the degradation of Rhodamine B (Rh-B) dye was studied. The CTS nanoparticles were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, FTIR spectroscopy, scanning electron micro-scopy and UV-Visible spectroscopy. The results showed that synthesized CTS nanoparticles have agglomerated morphology, with the energy band gap of 1.74 eV. Due to the lower band gap of CTS, the light absorption into the visible region extends and an even photoinduced carrier separates well so that it presented higher photocatalytic activity. With the exposure of visible light, the maximum degradation of Rh-B has been achieved.