SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF TRANSPARENT PHOTOCATALYTIC ZTO COATINGS

The photocatalytic approach is known to be one of the most promising processes for the tertiary treatment of polluted water. The paper presents studies of Zn2SnO4 (ZTO) coatings synthesized by spray pyrolysis of Zn and Sn salt solution with the addition of dispersed Ta2O5 powder. The structural, morphological and optical properties of the coatings were investigated. Despite the simplicity and availability, the spray pyrolysis method provides homogeneous coatings. Introducing 0.001 mol/L of Ta2O5 into the initial salt solution was found to contribute to a significant change in the surface morphology of the synthesized coatings. The effect of the doped Ta2O5 phase on the photocatalytic activity of ZTO for the degradation of methylene blue (MB) has been investigated. An improvement of up to 90% in the degradation of MB has been observed for the Zn2SnO4/Ta 2O5 system after five hours of UV irradiation.