Ellipsoidal α-Fe2O3@SnO2/Ti3C2 MXene core-shell nanoparticles for photodegradation of organic dyes

Photodegradation is a green and economical route to decompose organic dyes utilized by photocatalysts. Herein, ellipsoidal α-Fe2O3@SnO2/Ti3C2 MXene core-shell nanoparticles (NPs) were successfully fabricated by modified Stöber method and hydrothermal treatment for photodegradation of rhodamine B (rhB) dye. According to transmission electron microscopy (TEM), α-Fe2O3@SnO2 nanoparticles were homogenously coated with Ti3C2 MXenes. When the dosage of MXenes is about 3.5 mg, the as-prepared α-Fe2O3@SnO2/MXene-3.5 sample exhibits the excellent photodegradation capacity of rhB dye. The E140 (photodegradation efficiency for 140 min) can rapidly rise to 72.43 %, which is much higher than that of pure α-Fe2O3, SnO2, or Ti3C2 MXene samples. Furthermore, the α-Fe2O3@SnO2/MXene-3.5 also displayed the cycle stability only with a decreasing of 6.88 % after 6 times. As a proposal photocatalytic mechanism, both of Ti3C2 MXene and SnO2 could form the Schottky barrier to reduce the recombination probability of photogenerated electrons and holes due to the metal-like conductivity of Ti3C2 MXene. Meanwhile, Ti3C2 MXene could also accelerate the migration rate of electrons to greatly improve the photocatalytic efficiency. •α-Fe2O3@SnO2/Ti3C2 MXene nanoparticles are successfully prepared by hydrothermal method.•The MXene dosage can significantly change the photocatalytic properties of α-Fe2O3@SnO2/Ti3C2 MXene nanoparticles.•The improvement of photocatalysis is possibly caused by the Schottky barrier in the interface between SnO2 and Ti3C2 MXene.