Conversion of ternary Zn2SnO4 octahedrons into binary mesoporous SnO2 and hollow SnS2 hierarchical octahedrons by template-mediated selective complex extraction

Abstract

The controlled synthesis of mesoporous or hollow nonspherical hierarchical architectures still remains a tremendous challenge. On the other hand, the conversion of multielement semiconducting microcrystals into binary ones with inherited morphology has never been explored until now. Here we report that ternary Zn₂SnO₄ octahedrons can be converted into mesoporous binary SnO₂ and hollow SnS₂ hierarchical octahedrons through hydrothermal extraction. The favorable structures of the as-obtained SnO₂ and SnS₂ leads to the observation of enhanced photocatalytic activities. The new complex-extraction strategy can be generalized and thus open a new avenue for synthesis of functional materials with unique hollow architectures.