title: Facile synthesis of hierarchical Mn3O4superstructures and efficient catalytic performance.
abstract: The development of novel materials with excellent performance depends not only on the constituents but also on their remarkable micro/nanostructures. In this work, manganese oxide (Mn3O4) hausmannite structures with a uniform three-dimensional (3D) flower-like hierarchical architecture have been successfully synthesized by a novel chemical route using surfactants as structure-directing agents. Microstructure analysis indicates that the obtained 3D flower-like Mn3O4superstructure consists of a large number of two-dimensional (2D) Mn3O4nanosheets, which is different from the reported 3D Mn3O4hierarchical structures based on zero-dimensional nanoparticles or one-dimensional nanowires and nanorods. This 3D Mn3O4hierarchical architecture provides us with another type of manganese oxide with different superstructural characteristics, which may have potential practical applications in the catalytic degradation of organic pollutants. The catalytic performance of this hierarchical Mn3O4superstructure, which was prepared by three different types of structure-directing agents, including cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), poly(vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP), and poly(ethylene oxide)-poly(propylene oxide) (P123), was evaluated for the catalytic degradation of organic pollutants, e.g. methylene blue. Interestingly, the hierarchical Mn3O4superstructure prepared using CTAB as a template showed efficient catalytic degradation. The formation processes and possible growth mechanism of this novel 3D Mn3O4hierarchical superstructure assembled by 2D Mn3O4nanosheets are discussed in detail.
authors.affiliation: School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, People's Republic of China. zwchen@shu.edu.cn bzhao@shu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Zhixiang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, People's Republic of China. zwchen@shu.edu.cn bzhao@shu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Dayong
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, People's Republic of China. zwchen@shu.edu.cn bzhao@shu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Jingyu
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.affiliation: School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, People's Republic of China. zwchen@shu.edu.cn bzhao@shu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Qi
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, People's Republic of China. zwchen@shu.edu.cn bzhao@shu.edu.cn and Department of Physics and Materials Science, City University of Hong Kong, Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong, China. apchshek@cityu.edu.hk.
authors.forename: Zhiwen
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, People's Republic of China. zwchen@shu.edu.cn bzhao@shu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Dongguang
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.affiliation: School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, People's Republic of China. zwchen@shu.edu.cn bzhao@shu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Bing
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Materials Science, City University of Hong Kong, Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong, China. apchshek@cityu.edu.hk.
authors.forename: C M Lawrence
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Materials Science, City University of Hong Kong, Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong, China. apchshek@cityu.edu.hk.
authors.forename: Chan-Hung
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Shek