Hierarchical Porous SnO₂ Microflowers Photocatalyst

Novel hierarchical porous SnO₂ microflowers are obtained via a solvent induced and surfactant-assisted self-assembly method followed by a calcination process. The as-synthesized SnO₂ microflowers consist of many porous nanorods with a length of 3 μm. A possible growth mechanism governing the formation of SnO₂ microflowers was discussed by adjusting the mole ratio of SnCl₂·2H₂O to H₂C₂O₄·2H₂O and the volume ratio of C₂H₅OH to PEG400. Photocatalytic activities of SnO₂ microflowers are investigated by degrading methylene blue (MB), methyl orange (MO) and rhodamine B (RhB) aqueous solution. The results reveal that the obtained SnO₂ microflowers exhibit a superior photocatalytic activity and extremely high degradation efficiency, as well as good reproducibility and stability, which may be ascribed to the unique hierarchical porous flower-like microstructure.