title: Well-crystalline porous ZnO-SnO2 nanosheets: an effective visible-light driven photocatalyst and highly sensitive smart sensor material.
abstract: This work demonstrates the synthesis and characterization of porous ZnO-SnO2 nanosheets prepared by the simple and facile hydrothermal method at low-temperature. The prepared nanosheets were characterized by several techniques which revealed the well-crystallinity, porous and well-defined nanosheet morphology for the prepared material. The synthesized porous ZnO-SnO2 nanosheets were used as an efficient photocatalyst for the photocatalytic degradation of highly hazardous dye, i.e., direct blue 15 (DB 15), under visible-light irradiation. The excellent photocatalytic degradation of prepared material towards DB 15 dye could be ascribed to the formation of ZnO-SnO2 heterojunction which effectively separates the photogenerated electron-hole pairs and possess high surface area. Further, the prepared porous ZnO-SnO2 nanosheets were utilized to fabricate a robust chemical sensor to detect 4-nitrophenol in aqueous medium. The fabricated sensor exhibited extremely high sensitivity of ~ 1285.76 µA/mmol L(-1)cm(-2) and an experimental detection limit of 0.078 mmol L(-1) with a linear dynamic range of 0.078-1.25 mmol L(-1). The obtained results confirmed that the prepared porous ZnO-SnO2 nanosheets are potential material for the removal of organic pollutants under visible light irradiation and efficient chemical sensing applications.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Panjab University, Chandigarh 160014, India.
authors.forename: Randeep
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lamba
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, College of Science and Arts, Najran University, P.O. Box-1988, Najran 11001, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; Promising Centre for Sensors and Electronic Devices (PCSED), Najran University, P.O. Box-1988, Najran 11001, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Electronic address: ahmadumar786@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Ahmad
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Umar
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Panjab University, Chandigarh 160014, India.
authors.forename: S K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Mehta
authors.affiliation: Dr. S.S. Bhatnagar University Institute of Chemical Engineering & Technology, Panjab University, Chandigarh 160014, India. Electronic address: sushilkk1@yahoo.co.in.
authors.forename: Sushil Kumar
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Kansal
mesh_terms: D001391:Azo Compounds / Q000737:chemistry; D015374:Biosensing Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D002384:Catalysis; D008027:Light; D057230:Limit of Detection; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry*; D009596:Nitrophenols / Q000737:chemistry; D010782:Photolysis; D016062:Porosity; D013056:Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; D017971:Tin Compounds / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000528:radiation effects*; D015034:Zinc Oxide / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000528:radiation effects*
chemical_list: D001391:Azo Compounds; D009596:Nitrophenols; D017971:Tin Compounds; C035549:direct blue 15; C045358:stannic oxide; D015034:Zinc Oxide; C024836:4-nitrophenol
keywords: 4-Nitrophenol; Chemical sensor; Direct blue-15; Photo-degradation; Porous ZnO–SnO(2) nanosheets; Visible-light driven