Preparation and characterization of In2O3/ZnO heterostructured microbelts by sol–gel combined with electrospinning method

• DOI: 10.1007/s10971-013-3225-0
• Publication Date: 2013-12-02T19:54:58Z
• Authors: Fei Zhao; Qifang Lu; Suwen Liu
• Keywords: Electrospinning; Methyl orange; Photodegradation; Visible spectrum; Morphology

Long and thin In2O3/ZnO heterostructured microbelts were synthesized by sol–gel combined with electrospinning process. The as-prepared microbelts show the well defined one-dimensional belt structures with 1–5 μm in width and tens of millimeters in length. The polycrystalline microbelts calcined at 973 K for 1 h are still continuous and have the uniform rectangular cross sections and the thickness to width ratio is around 1:10. The crystalline phases of samples are investigated by X-ray diffraction and the morphology is examined using transmission electron microscope and scanning electron microscope. In2O3/ZnO heterostructured microbelts exhibit the excellent visible photocatalytic property in the photodegradation of methyl orange (MO), and over 94 % of MO was degraded within 3 h.