Elaboration and high resolution TEM characterization of SnO2 nanowires

Abstract

Graphical abstractDisplay Omitted Highlights? SnO2 nanowires were synthesized by electrodeposition and oxidation in AAO template. ? The growth mechanism of Sn nanowires is a brick-stacked wirelike growth. ? SEM and TEM studies have shown the uniform structures of these nanowires. ? Tetragonal SnO2 phase has been identified by XRD and confirmed by HRTEM. ? HRTEM image shows polycrystalline nanowire with grains size equal to 5nm. Tin dioxide is a wide-band gap (3.6eV) semiconductor with numerous potential applications in batteries, gas sensors, and dye-sensitized solar cells. In this study nanocrystalline tin oxide nanowires have been synthesized by electrochemical deposition and oxidation in anodic aluminum oxide template. Electrochemical synthesis has been controlled by chronoamperometry and oxidation by X-ray diffraction. Polycrystalline nanowires with 140nm in diameter and 3µm in length have been obtained. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) studies have highlighted a uniform nanowire structure. High resolution transmission electron microscope (TEM FEI Tecnai G2-20 twin) was employed to characterize the crystalline structure of 5nm diameter tin oxide grains. Tetragonal tin oxide phase has been characterized by X-ray powder diffraction and the interplanar distance of 0.32nm corresponding to the SnO2 crystal obtained by HRTEM has confirmed the structure.