Synthesis and Characterization of High Surface Area Tin Oxide Nanoparticles via the Sol-Gel Method as a Catalyst for the Hydrogenation of Styrene

A systematic study on the preparation of SnO2 nanoparticles using a simple sol-gel technique has been conducted by varying reaction parameters such as concentration of ammonia, ammonia feed rate and reaction temperature. The tin oxide obtained was characterized by using FTIR, BET, XRD and TEM. Particles size was obtained in the range of 4 to 5 6 nm and the surface area was found to be between 76 to 114 m(2) g(-1) depending on the reaction parameters. Meanwhile, the catalytic activity of SnO2 was first time investigated for the hydrogenation reaction of styrene using ethanol as the solvent at 70 degrees C and 1 atmospheric pressure It is found that SnO2 acts as a good catalyst in this hydrogenation process The product conversions in the presence of catalysts prepared at different conditions were between 37 to 72%.