Stainless steel mesh-supported three-dimensional hierarchical SnO2/Zn2SnO4 composite for the applications in solar cell, gas sensor, and photocatalysis

Three dimensional (3D) hierarchical micro/nanostructures are an interesting class of materials with various tunable physicochemical properties and have good application foreground in environmental protection. However, it is hard for the micrometer-sized material to directly grow on high curvature surface of metal wire mesh for assembling flexible devices. In this paper, the two SnO2/Zn2SnO4 composites with different hierarchical morphologies prepared using solvothermal method were deposited onto stainless steel mesh by the multiple electrophoretic deposition, and used as photoanodes of flexible dye-sensitized solar cell (FDSSCs), flexible gas sensors to detect poisonous formaldehyde (HCHO) and immobilized photocatalysts for the degradation of two different types of organic dyes. Due to larger specific surface areas, the higher light harvesting efficiency and mesoporous property, the performances of the flexible devices based SnO2/Zn2SnO4 microspheres consisting of nanoparticle-based nanosheets were superior to those based on SnO2/Zn2SnO4 microspheres consisting of nanobelts. This work extends the development of SnO2/Zn2SnO4 hierarchical micro/nanostructures on the flexible substrate and provides a strategy for constructing other 3D hierarchical material on the flexible wire mesh with the high curvature surface to enhance performance of corresponding flexible devices.