SnO₂ Nanostructures-TiO₂ Nanofibers Heterostructures: Controlled Fabrication and High Photocatalytic Properties

Abstract

Combining the versatility of the electrospinning technique and hydrothermal growth of nanostructures enabled the fabrication of hierarchical SnO(2)/TiO(2) composite nanostructures. The results revealed that not only were secondary SnO(2) nanostructures successfully grown on primary TiO(2) nanofiber substrates but also the SnO(2) nanostructures were uniformly distributed without aggregation on TiO(2) nanofibers. By adjusting fabrication parameters, the morphology as well as coverage density of secondary SnO(2) nanostructures could be further controlled, and then SnO(2)/TiO(2) heterostructures with SnO(2) nanoparticles or nanorods were facilely fabricated. The photocatalytic studies suggested that the SnO(2)/TiO(2) heterostructures showed enhanced photocatalytic efficiency of photodegradation of Rhodamine B (RB) compared with the bare TiO(2) nanofibers under UV light irradiation.