SnO2-anchored carbon fibers chemical vapor deposition (CVD) synthesis: effects of growth parameters on morphologies and electrochemical behaviors

Abstract

Morphological effects on the electrochemical behaviors of Tin Dioxide (SnO2) have recently been explored in several studies. Nevertheless, the preparations of SnO2 in those works are mostly based on wet-chemistry methods, while the usage of dry-chemistry methods is still lack of investigation. In this work, for the first time, we report the successful fabrication of SnO2 particles attached on carbon fibers via a simple two-step Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) approach. CVD growth parameters (temperature, growth time and gas inlet flow rate) were systematically varied to observe the changes in morphologies (in terms of particle density and size distribution) as well as the formation of core–shell Sn/SnO2 structures; and the electrochemical properties of the as-synthesized samples were studied. Our experiments indicate strong correlations among the synthesis conditions, morphologies and electrochemical behaviors. Overall, our findings provide new insights into CVD as a morphological tailoring approach for electrochemical applications—in addition to its simple apparatus and short synthesizing duration, the process is easily extendable for the preparation of other metal and metal oxide particles.