title: Converting 2D inorganic-organic ZnSe-DETA hybrid nanosheets into 3D hierarchical nanosheet-based ZnSe microspheres with enhanced visible-light-driven photocatalytic performances.
abstract: Engineering two-dimensional (2D) nanosheets into three-dimensional (3D) hierarchical structures is one of the great challenges in nanochemistry and materials science. We report a facile and simple chemical conversion route to fabricate 3D hierarchical nanosheet-based ZnSe microspheres by using 2D inorganic-organic hybrid ZnSe-DETA (DETA = diethylenetriamine) nanosheets as the starting precursors. The conversion mechanism involves the controlled depletion of the organic-component (DETA) from the hybrid precursors and the subsequent self-assembly of the remnant inorganic-component (ZnSe). The transformation reaction of ZnSe-DETA nanosheets is mainly influenced by the concentration of DETA in the reaction solution. We demonstrated that this organic-component depletion method could be extended to the synthesis of other hierarchical structures of metal sulfides. In addition, the obtained hierarchical nanosheet-based ZnSe microspheres exhibited outstanding performance in visible light photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange and were highly active for photocatalytic H2 production.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, School of Science, Tianjin University, and Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Science and Engineering (Tianjin), Tianjin, 300072, P. R. China. bzhang@tju.edu.cn zhurongjiao@tju.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Xuan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Rui
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Rongjiao
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Rui
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zhang