Open AccessHydrothermal Synthesis of Hierarchical Flower-Like Sn3O4 Nanomaterial for High-Photocatalytic Properties
Author(s) -
Lei Liao,
Weigang Huang,
Fanggong Cai,
Chenghang Lv,
Qin Ba,
Qinyong Zhang
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
ecs journal of solid state science and technology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.488
H-Index - 51
eISSN - 2162-8777
pISSN - 2162-8769
DOI - 10.1149/2162-8777/aba854
Subject(s) - photocatalysis , materials science , hydrothermal circulation , tin oxide , nanomaterials , scanning electron microscope , chemical engineering , nanotechnology , aqueous solution , tin , specific surface area , hydrothermal synthesis , nanostructure , methylene blue , morphology (biology) , oxide , catalysis , organic chemistry , composite material , metallurgy , chemistry , engineering , biology , genetics
Nanostructured tin oxide has drawn extensive attention from researchers as a semiconductor, owing to its unique physicochemical properties. In this study, a mixed-valence tin oxide, hierarchical flower-like Sn 3 O 4 self-assembled with numerous nanosheets was successfully synthesized using a simple hydrothermal process. The structure, morphology, and specific surface area were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), a scanning electron microscope (SEM), and an automatic surface area analyzer, respectively. The obtained Sn 3 O 4 products had hierarchical nanostructures and uniform flower-like morphology. The diameter of this flower ranged from 300 nm to 2.6 μ m. The flower-like Sn 3 O 4 was self-assembled by nanosheets with a thickness of 8 ∼25 nm. By controlling the temperature of hydrothermal reaction and the concentration of surfactant, the as-synthesized hierarchical flower-like Sn 3 O 4 (Sn 3 O 4 −25SC) can obtain the largest specific surface area of approximately 66 m 2 ∙g −1 , and thus exhibits excellent photocatalytic activity while degrading the methylene blue (MB) aqueous solution under UV light irradiation. Results show that the degradation rate of dye MB can reach 97% within 60 min. Moreover, a possible growth mechanism of the flower-like architectures was proposed. Sodium citrate promotes the growth of Sn 3 O 4 nanosheets and accelerates the self-assembling of nanosheets into flower-like architecture.