A facile synthesis of mesoporous crystalline tin oxide films involving a base-triggered formation of sol-gel building blocks.
We have developed a new facile procedure for manufacturing crystalline thin films of SnO2 with a uniform mesoporous architecture and full crystallinity of the walls. The procedure is based on the evaporation-induced self-assembly (EISA) of prehydrolyzed tin oxide precursor directed by a commercially available Pluronic polymer. The formation of the tin oxide precursor, which can be self-assembled into a mesoporous structure, is achieved by an addition of ammonium hydroxide to a tin tetrachloride solution. The relative concentration of ammonium hydroxide as well as the duration and temperature of the hydrolysis reaction influence significantly the properties of hydrolyzed tin oxide species and the mesostructure assembled from them. The films coated from these precursor solutions and calcined at 300 °C to 400 °C exhibit a well-developed worm-like porosity with a wall to wall distance of ca. 18 nm, a surface area of up to 50 cm2 cm(-2) (corresponding to 55±5 m2 g(-1)), and high crystallinity.
Department of Chemistry and Center for Nanoscience (CeNS), University of Munich (LMU), Butenandtstrasse 5-11 (E), 81377, Munich, Germany.
Dorothee Irmgard
DI
Fried
Alesja
A
Ivanova
Vesna
V
Müller
Jiri
J
Rathousky
Bernd M
BM
Smarsly
Dina
D
Fattakhova-Rohlfing
D003460:Crystallization / Q000379:methods*; D046911:Macromolecular Substances / Q000737:chemistry; D008422:Materials Testing; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D008968:Molecular Conformation; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D010316:Particle Size; D044367:Phase Transition; D016062:Porosity; D013499:Surface Properties; D017971:Tin Compounds / Q000138:chemical synthesis*
D046911:Macromolecular Substances; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D017971:Tin Compounds; C045358:stannic oxide