Solution heteroepitaxial growth of dendritic SnO₂/TiO ₂ hybrid nanowires

We exploit a facile synthetic route to fabricate dendritic SnO ₂/TiO₂ nanodentrites with a twofold point symmetry by a combination of vapor transport deposition method for the SnO₂ nanowire backbones and subsequent hydrothermal heteroepitaxial growth of TiO₂ nanorod branches. As a result of the good lattice matching and same rutile crystal structures between SnO₂ and TiO₂, an interface epitaxy is established accounting for the high symmetry. Proof-of-principle demonstration of the function in photoelectrochemical water splitting is presented.