ZIF-67-induced double-tubular 1D CeO2/Co3O4 heterostructures allowing electron transfer synergetic mechanism for enhanced photocatalytic performance

ZIF-67-induced double-tubular 1D CeO2/Co3O4 heterostructures have been prepared by an electrospinning method with tunable morphological evolution mechanism. As the adding amount of ZIF-67 increasing, the morphologies of CeO2-based nanomaterials are changed from porous granular nanobelt to smooth curly shape, and finally formed a double-tubular structure. The optimal CeO2/Co3O4 products consisting of well-dispersed double-tubular nanostructure with the external diameter of about 200 nm display high specific surface area of 196.05 m2g−1 and superior photocatalytic performance of methylene blue (MB). The rapid degradation rate of 97% within 40 min and high cycling stability without significant decrease of photocatalytic activity could be attributed to the unique electron transfer synergetic mechanism based on the combination of double-tubular microstructure and CeO2/Co3O4 heterojunctions.