Controllable Synthesis, Magnetic Properties, and Enhanced Photocatalytic Activity of Spindlelike Mesoporous α-Fe2O3/ZnO Core–Shell Heterostructures

Mesoporous spindlelike iron oxide/ZnO core–shell heterostructures are successfully fabricated by a low-cost, surfactant-free, and environmentally friendly seed-mediate strategy with the help of postannealing treatment. The material composition and stoichiometry, as well as these magnetic and optical properties, have been examined and verified by means of high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction, the thickness of ZnO layer can be simply tailored by the concentration of zinc precursor. Considering that both α-Fe2O3 and ZnO are good photocatalytic materials, we have investigated the photodegradation performances of the core–shell heterostructures using organic dyes Rhodamin B (RhB). It is interesting to find that the as-obtained iron oxides/ZnO core–shell heterostructures exhibited enhanced visible light or UV photocatalytic abilities, remarkably superior to the as-used α-Fe2O3 seeds and commercial TiO2 products (P25), mainly owing to the synergistic effect between the narrow and wide bandgap semiconductors and effective electron–hole separation at the interfaces of iron oxides/ZnO.