“NANOTECHNOLOGY-ENABLED GREEN SYNTHESIS OF SNO₂ NANOMATERIALS FOR EFFICIENT ENVIRONMENTAL REMEDIATION”

Abstract

Environmental contamination due to artificial dyes and industrial pollutants remains one of the critical global challenges; hence, it requires sustainable and extremely efficient remediation methods. In the present study, SnO₂ nanomaterials have been synthesized by using an eco-friendly plant-mediated green synthesis route with Azadirachta indica (neem) leaf extract as a natural reductant and stabilizer. The synthesized SnO₂ nanoparticles were thoroughly characterized to demonstrate their structural, morphological, and functional properties. Sn-O-Sn lattice vibrations were confirmed by FTIR along with phytochemical-derived surface functionalities, while XRD confirmed highly crystalline cassiterite SnO₂ with a dominant plane (110). SEM analytical studies revealed quasi-spherical, aggregated nanoparticles with a porous architecture which is favorable for pollutant adsorption. The UV-Vis spectroscopy showed a sharp absorption edge characteristic of wide-bandgap SnO₂ and proved its suitability for photocatalytic applications. BET analysis confirms a mesoporous structure with a high specific surface area which gives exceptional catalytic performance. Green-synthesized SnO₂ nanoparticles showed excellent photocatalytic efficiency by degrading 94.5% methylene blue upon illumination under the visible light, after an initial 12% removal by adsorption. Kinetic evaluation revealed a high pseudo-first-order rate constant, k = 0.4661 min⁻¹, confirming rapid degradation activity. Moreover, the catalyst demonstrated strong recoverability with negligible loss in performance over multiple cycles. Our study confirms that plant-mediated green synthesis is a promising, sustainable method for fabricating high-performance SnO₂ nanomaterials with great potential for environmental remediation applications.

Keywords

SnO₂ nanoparticles; green synthesis; Azadirachta indica; photocatalytic degradation