The morphology of SnO2 nanospheres was transformed into ultrathin nanosheets assembled architectures after Zn doping by one-step hydrothermal route. The as-prepared samples were characterized in detail by various analytical techniques including scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and nitrogen adsorption-desorption technique. The Zn-doped SnO2 nanostructures proved to be the efficient gas sensing materials for a series of flammable and explosive gases detection, and photocatalysts for the degradation of methyl orange (MO) under UV irradiation. It was observed that both of the undoped and Zn-doped SnO2 after calcination exhibited tremendous gas sensing performance toward glycol. The response (S = Ra/Rg) of Zn-doped SnO2 can reach to 90 when the glycol concentration is 100 ppm, which is about 2 times and 3 times higher than that of undoped SnO2 sensor with and without calcinations, respectively. The result of photocatalytic activities demonstrated that MO dye was almost completely degraded (~92%) by Zn-doped SnO2 in 150 min, which is higher than that of others (MO without photocatalyst was 23%, undoped SnO2 without and with calcination were 55% and 75%, respectively).

Tin dioxide (SnO 2 ) is an important n-type wide-bandgap semiconductor, and SnO 2 -based nanostructures are presenting themselves as one of the most important classes due to their various tunable physicochemical properties. In this paper, we firstly outline the syntheses of phase-pure SnO 2 hierarchical structures with different morphologies such as nanorods, nanosheets, and nanospheres, as well as their modifications by doping and compositing with other materials. Then, we reviewed the design of SnO 2based nanostructures with improved performance in the areas of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) and supercapacitors. SnO 2 -Based Nanomaterials2.1. Phase-Pure SnO 2 Nanostructures. Many researchers have devoted their efforts to manipulate the structures and morphologies of SnO 2 in order to improve the performances and widen their applications. Two kinds of synthesis strategies have generally been explored as follows.(1) Hydrothermal Method. Hydrothermal method has been paid much attention, due to its simplicity, low cost, high efficiency, and convenient manipulation combined with flexible control over the sizes and morphologies of the resulting nanostructures [9,11,17,23,24], in which aqueous solution

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Cu2O hierarchical nanostructures with different morphologies were successfully synthesized by a solvothermal method using copper (II) nitrate trihydrate (Cu(NO3)2⋅3H2O) and ethylene glycol (EG) as initial reagents. The obtained nanostructures were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) specific surface area test, and UV-vis spectroscopy. The synthesis conditions (copper source, temperature, and reaction time) dominated the compositions and the formation of crystals with different morphologies. The visible light photocatalytic properties of as-prepared Cu2O nanostructures were investigated with and without hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), and the effect of H2O2 were evaluated by monitoring the degradation of methyl orange (MO) with various amounts of H2O2. It was revealed that the degree of the photodegradation of MO depends on the amount of H2O2 and the morphology of Cu2O.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s11671-014-0726-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.