Low temperature dealloying preparation of extremely fine double-levels nano-SnO_2 particles with excellent photocatalytic properties

摘要

A low temperature dealloying process for the preparation of nano-SnO2 photocatalyst was developed in this work, Cu70Sn30 alloy short ribbons and 3.6 M HNO3 solution were used as precursors and corrosive/oxidizing agent, respectively. The results of XRD, XPS, SEM and TEM show that SnO2 nano-materials were successfully fabricated, which consist of a large number of nanoparticles with extremely fine second-level structure (2.5 similar to 5 nm for the sample prepared at 25 degrees C for 48 h, 2.5 similar to 6 nm for the sample prepared at 80 degrees C for 3 h). To investigate the catalytic activities of the samples, the ultraviolet (UV) light (lambda = 365 nm) decompositions of rhodamine B (RhB) dye (10 mg/L) with different samples were performed. The results show that SnO2 double-levels nanoparticles synthesized by low temperature dealloying method displays much more excellent photocatalytic performances compared to commercial SnO2. Furthermore, nano-SnO2 prepared by dealloying at 25 degrees C for 48 h is superior to the sample prepared at 80 degrees C for 3 h for RhB photo-degradation.