Hollow shaped nanofibers with (Ti, Sn)O2 solid-solutions: Synthesis, characterization, and photocatalytic application

• Novel hollow shaped nanofibers with (Ti, Sn)O2 solid-solutions were synthesized.
• Uniformly distributed hollow shaped nanofibers were formed in the optimum weight ratio of the TTIP.
• The highest degradation ratio of photocatalysts exhibited more than 3.5 times that of TiO2.

Novel hollow shaped nanofibers with (Ti, Sn)O2 solid-solutions have been synthesized for photocatalysts by the impregnation method using tin chloride (SnCl2) and titanium tetraisopropoxide (TTIP), and further characterized by SEM, EDS, TGA, and XRD. The results showed that uniformly distributed hollow shaped nanofibers with (Ti, Sn)O2 solid-solutions was successfully formed in the case of the optimum weight ratio of the Ti precursor. These hollow shaped nanofibers exhibited the higher photocatalytic reactivity by the conversion of methylene blue in aqueous solution under UV irradiation than not only prepared SnO2 but also TiO2 hollow shaped nanofibers. The highest degradation ratio was about 85% at 70 min using hollow shaped nanofibers with (Ti, Sn)O2 solid-solutions photocatalysts, which exhibited more than 3.5 times that of TiO2. It has been found that enhanced MB degradation efficiency is not only due to the charge separation of electron–hole pairs but also increasing the photocatalytic reactive site.