Agglomeration Eliminating Antimony Doped Tin Oxide (ATO) Nanoparticles by Different Drying Methods

Abstract

Antimony doped tin oxide (ATO) nanoparticles were synthesized via complex-homogeneous coprecipitation. Then different drying methods (such as azeotropic distillation, infrared drying and microwave drying, etc.) were used to eliminate the agglomeration. The nanoparticles were characterized by thermal analysis, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller measurements (BET). The result shows that ATO nanopaticles with tetragonal rutile phase structure are all well crystallized after the drying processes above, and the average grain size is between 29.30 nm and 71.52 nm. The grain size estimated by BET method is similar to the result of Scherrer equation, and the nanoparticles prepared by azeotropic distillation have better crystallinity comparing to other methods. With the extension of the distillation time, the grain size increases, and the colour changes from grey blue to light grey. Moreover, the combination of azeotropic distillation and infrared drying can prepare smaller and better crystalline ATO nanoparticles.