HYDROTHERMAL SYNTHESIS OF SNO2-ZNO AGGREGATES IN CELLULOSE AEROGELS FOR PHOTOCATALYTIC DEGRADATION OF RHODAMINE B

Cellulose aerogels have been considered as ideal green matrices to support various nanoparticles due to their hierarchical porous nanostructures and an ocean of surface hydroxyl groups. Herein, an easily-operated low-energy hydrothermal method was implemented to synthesize SnO2-ZnO aggregates in cellulose aerogels. The well-dispersed aggregates with the mean diameter of 45.4 nm are tightly adhered on the three-dimensional framework of the aerogels, due to the strong interactions between the hydroxyl groups of cellulose and the oxygen atoms of SnO2 or ZnO. Furthermore, the tri-component composite shows good photocatalytic activity for degradation of rhodamine B under ultraviolet irradiation, which is possibly helpful to deal with dyestuff wastewater as a kind of low-pollution cost-effective photocatalyst.