Template-oriented synthesis of monodispersed SnS 2 @SnO 2 hetero-nanoflowers for Cr(VI) photoreduction

Abstract The controlled chemical conversion of nanomaterials represents an important basis for both understanding the nanoscale chemical activity and exploring new desirable materials. In this work, the region selective ion-exchange transformation of one-dimensional (1D) SnO 2 nanotubes (SNT) into three-dimensional (3D) SnS 2 @SnO 2 nanoflowers (SNF) were prepared by combining the electrospinning technique and hydrothermal method. The template-oriented synthesized SnS 2 @SnO 2 demonstrated good dispersibility and uniformity, which can be proved by field-scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Compared with SNT, SNF showed an improved visible light harvest even to the near-infrared light region through Ultraviolet-Visible Spectroscopy (UV–vis). What's more, SNF showed enhanced water purification performance for oxalic acid-induced photocatalytic reduction of Cr(VI) under visible light irradiation at room temperature, which could be attributed to the staggered band alignment formed between the two semiconductors. Besides, the corresponding mechanism of enhanced photocatalysis regarding the separation of the photogenerated electron-hole pairs for the heterojunction has also been investigated through photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL) and photocurrent analysis.

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