Synthesizing of SnS2 photocatalyst from SnO2 powders by thermal sulfurization with varying temperature (400 °C and 500 °C) and time

Abstract

SnS2 from SnO2 powders was successfully produced by the thermal sulfurization method to obtain pure SnS2 powders by varying the sulfurization temperature and time. XRD analysis confirmed pure hexagonal SnS2 powders at 400 and 500 °C after 24 h of sulfurization. Grain size analysis in SEM indicated that the average grain size of powders synthesized at 400 °C and 500 °C were 1 and 11 μm, respectively. The band gap values of the obtained powders at 400 and 500 °C was determined by UV–vis spectroscopy as 2.26 eV and 2.24 eV, respectively. The photoelectrochemical analysis of the SnS2 photoelectrode produced at 500 °C revealed a flat band potential of −0.50 V, a charge carrier density of 1.49 × 1020 cm −3 and photocurrent density of 2.5 μA/cm2 at 0 V vs SCE. These results indicated that SnS2 synthesized for the first time by the thermal sulfurization technique from SnO2, which was a simple and cheap technique, was a promising candidate to be used as a photocatalysts.