Sonochemical Synthesis of SnO/ZnO Nano-Composite: The Effects of Temperature and Sonication Power

Nanometer oxides e.g. SnO2, ZnO, TiO2, ZrO2, etc. have photocatalytic and gas sensing properties which can be different in nanometer range. They have been produced by several methods such as Chemical Bath Deposition (CBD), Pulsed-laser deposition, Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD), screen printing and firing process, spray pyrolysis technique, magnetron sputtering, mechanical alloying, etc. It was found that the production method and its parameters would affect the size and morphology of these oxides. By using a composite of these oxides their properties would also be affected. In this paper the effects of sonication and reaction temperatures on SnO/ZnO coupled oxides' morphologies were investigated. These coupled oxides were characterized by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), X-Ray Florescence (XRF), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and Differential Thermal Analysis (DTA). As a result of using the ultra sound source, the sizes of nano oxides decreased, which is one of the most important advantages of sonochemical synthesis in comparison with chemical bath deposition synthesis of these nano-composites.