Sb2O3–ZnO nanospindles: A potential material for photocatalytic and sensing applications

This paper reports the facile synthesis, characterization and applications of Sb2O3–ZnO nanospindles. The nanospindles were synthesized by facile diethanolammine assisted hydrothermal process and characterized in detail in terms of their morphological, structural, compositional and optical properties. The detailed characterizations revealed that the prepared nanoellipsoids are well-crystalline, grown in high density and possessing good optical properties. Further, the as-synthesized Sb2O3–ZnO nanospindles were found to be an efficient photocatalyst for the degradation of methylene blue (MB) dye under UV light. Sb2O3–ZnO nanospindles were also used as an efficient electron mediator to fabricate a robust, highly sensitive and reproducible chemical sensor for the detection of thiourea in aqueous medium. The fabricated chemical sensor possesses high sensitivity of 6.54 µA mmol L−1 cm−2. The sensing calibration plot was found to be linear (R2=0.91423) over the large concentration range from 1.56 mmol L−1 to 100 mmol L−1. The obtained results confirmed that the Sb2O3–ZnO nanospindles may hold great potential for the removal of organic pollutants and for monitoring of thiourea in aqueous solution.