A facile one-pot hydrothermal synthesis of β-MnO2 nanopincers and their catalytic degradation of methylene blue

Abstract Branched β-MnO 2 bipods with novel nanopincer morphology were prepared by a facile one-pot hydrothermal method via a redox reaction between NaClO 3 and MnSO 4 in sulfuric acid solution without using any surfactants or templates. The products were characterized in detail by various techniques including X-ray powder diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, surface area analyzer, field emission scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. Results show that the obtained β-MnO 2 nanopincers consist of two sharp nanorods with a diameter of 100–200 nm and a length of 1–2 μm. The concentration of H 2 SO 4 solution plays an important role in controlling the crystal phase and morphology of the final product. A possible formation mechanism for the β-MnO 2 nanopincers was proposed. Moreover, these β-MnO 2 nanostructures exhibited better catalytic performance than the commercial MnO 2 particles to decompose methyl blue (MB) in the presence of H 2 O 2 .