Sol-Gel and Sonochemical Synthesis of Some Nanostructured Transition Metal Oxides and Evaluation of Their Photocatalytic Activity

Abstract

In this thesis, nano-structured tin oxide SnO2 and nickel oxide NiO have been synthesized by two different methods; sol-gel and sonochemistry approaches. The as-prepared oxides were annealed at different temperatures 250, 500, and 750⁰C to study the effect of thermal treatment on the structural, morphological and the optical properties of these semiconductors. Moreover, these metal oxides have been doped with different metal-ions by employing the sonochemistry route and then, the effect of incorporation of such metal-ions on the structure has also been investigated. Evaluation of the photocatalytic activity for both the pure and doped oxides has been considered by utilizing different techniques like fluorescence probe method and the UV-degradation of organic dye. In addition, the produced oxides were applied for the treatment of real-wastewater samples to determine their efficiency. This thesis contains three main chapters and the conclusion; the outlines can be summarized as follows:

CHAPTER I: This chapter is divided into two parts; The first part introduces a general introduction about the concept of nanotechnology, the different methods of preparation of nano-structured transition metal oxides, their various applications, the effect of doping these oxides with trace metal ions, and the outstanding properties they exhibit. In addition, one of the current hot topic world wide, wastewater treatment, and the different solutions employed to address this critical problem have also been discussed focusing on the photocatalytic technique, in specific. The second part presents a literature review