Heat treatment effect of a hybrid consisting of SnO2 nanorod and rutile TiO2 with heteroepitaxial junction on the photocatalytic activity

SnO2 nanorods were heteroepitaxially grown from rutile TiO2 (SnO2-NR#TiO2) by a hydrothermal method. This paper reports heat temperature (T.)-dependence of the photocatalytic activity of SnO2-NR#TiO2 for the oxidation of ethanol to acetaldehyde. The activity-T. curve exhibits a volcano-shaped curve with the maximum at T. = 500 degrees C. While fusion of a bundle of thin SnO2 NRs progresses at T-c <= 500 degrees C, heating at T-c <= 600 degrees C causes their segmentation. The high activity of SnO2-NR#TiO2 with T-c = 500 degrees C stems from the high electron mobility in the SnO2 NRs in addition to the efficient electron transfer through the high-quality junction.