Hydrothermal synthesis of zinc stannate (Zn₂SnO₄) nanoparticles and its application towards photocatalytic and antibacterial activity

Zinc stannate (Zn₂SnO₄) nanoparticles were successfully synthesized by simple low-cost hydrothermal method with potassium hydroxide as a mineralizer. The structural, morphological and optical properties of the synthesized Zn₂SnO₄ nanoparticles were characterized by X-ray diffraction, Field emission Scanning electron microscope, High resolution Transmission electron microscope, UV–Vis spectroscopy and photoluminescence. X-ray diffraction results indicate that synthesized nanoparticles possess inverse spinel cubic structure and have a mean crystalline size of ~20 nm. Field emission Scanning electron microscope and High resolution-Transmission electron microscope results reveal that the nanoparticles are of spherical and irregular cubic in shape with particle size ranging from 20 to 50 nm. Band gap of the prepared sample is estimated to be 3.64 eV. Synthesized Zn₂SnO₄ nanoparticles has shown good photocatalytic activity against degradation of methyl green dye and possess antibacterial activity for the gram positive and gram negative pathogenic bacterial strains.