Electrospinning direct preparation of SnO2/Fe2O3 heterojunction nanotubes as an efficient visible-light photocatalyst

•SnO2/Fe2O3 nano-heterojunction-tubes are prepared by a facile electrospinning technique.•The formation mechanism of heterojunction tubes is proposed for self-polymer-templates action.•SnO2/Fe2O3 nano-heterojunction-tubes show high photocatalytic activity under visible light irradiation.•The reasons for the high photocatalytic activity are investigated in detail.

Herein SnO2/Fe2O3 heterojunction nanotubes are prepared by a facile electrospinning technique. The heterojunction nanotubes with a diameter of about 200 nm uniformly distribute SnO2 and Fe2O3 nanocrystals and present the obvious interfaces between them, which form perfect SnO2/Fe2O3 nano-heterojunctions. A possible mechanism based on self-polymer-templates is proposed to explain the formation of SnO2/Fe2O3 heterojunction nanotubes. The heterojunction nanotubes show high photocatalytic activity for the degradation of RhB dye under visible light irradiation. The prepared SnO2/Fe2O3 heterojunction nanotubes can also be applied to other fields such as sensor, lithium-ion batteries.