A family of microscale 2 × 2 × 2 Pocket Cubes

Abstract

Hierarchical microscale materials have received much attention recently. They can find many important applications, including wastewater treatment and energy storage. However, it is still a challenging task to facilely synthesize microscale structures with good size distribution, unique structures and, particularly, tunable composition. Herein, we have prepared a family of 2 × 2 × 2 Pocket Cube-like hierarchical microparticles, with different chemical compositions, including bimetal hydroxide (ZnSn(OH)₆), mixed bimetal oxide and metal oxide (Zn₂SnO₄&SnO₂), carbon coated bimetal oxide and metal (Zn₂SnO₄&Sn@C), all with the same overall mesoscale microstructures. This family of microscale Pocket Cubes, with different chemical compositions and their associated different physiochemical properties, may offer a set of functional materials for many applications. In order to demonstrate their potential applications, we have preliminarily studied their performances in rechargeable batteries and water remediation. Interestingly, these selected Pocket Cubes are electrochemically active toward the reversible storage of both sodium and lithium with comparable performances to those nanoparticles reported, although their sizes are remarkably large on the microscale. We found that the shapes of the microparticles can influence their photocatalytic performances. Our preliminary results suggest that this family of microscale Pocket Cubes, with further optimization and improvement, can find many promising applications, including wastewater treatment and energy storage.