Synthesis of ultra-fine porous tin oxide fibres and its process characterization

摘要

Porous rutile-structured SnO_2 fibres, with their length of several millimetres, diameter from 100 nm to 40 mu m and potentials for sensor applications, were synthesized from a precursor solution of poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO), chloroform (CHCl_3) and dimethyldineodecanoate tin (C_(22)H_(44)O_4Sn) using electrospinning and metal-organic decomposition techniques. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric and differential thermal analysis and x-ray diffraction were used to characterize the synthesized fibres so as to reveal the series of physical and chemical changes occurring from the starting chemicals to the final product of ultra-fine SnO_2 fibres: the solvent CHCl_3 evaporates during the electrospinning; the organic groups in PEO and C_(22)H_(44)O_4Sn decompose, with Sn-C bond in C_(22)H_(44)O_4Sn replaced by Sn-O between 220 and 300 deg C, and the atomic arrangement transforms into the genesis of a rutile-type lattice between 300 and 380 deg C; the incipient lattice finally develops into the rutile structure during heat treatment at higher temperatures up to 600 deg C.