Abstract
The aim of the study was to prepare SnO2 nanowires via a combination of electrospinning and the sol–gel method from a polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP)/dimetylformamide (DMF)/ethanol(EtOH)/tin(IV) chloride pentahydrate (SnCl4·5H2O) solution. The morphology, structure and chemical composition of the obtained PVP/SnO2 nanofibers and SnO2 nanowires were examined using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) as well as a scanning electron microscope (SEM) with an energy dispersive spectrometer (EDX). The optical property analysis was performed on the basis of UV–Vis spectra of absorbance as a function of the wavelength, based on which the rated values of band gaps of the fabricated 1D nanostructures were determined. The morphology analysis showed that the obtained amorphous SnO2 nanowires with crystalline protuberances were characterized by a diameter of 50 to 120 nm. Results demonstrated that nanowires with a ratio of 1:1 precursor to polymer in the spinning solution were characterized by the smallest diameter after calcination and the smallest energy gap of 3.3 eV among all investigated samples. The rest of the studied materials were characterized by a larger energy gap (3.8 and 3.9 eV).
Highlights
In recent years, the attention of scientists in the field of nanotechnology has been attracted by one-dimensional (1D) semiconductor nanomaterials based on metal oxides, which due to the large specific surface area, unique optical and electrical properties, can be applied in chemical sensors, batteries, fuel and solar cells, optic and optoelectronic devices or photocatalysis[1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8]
The electrospinning process of PVA, DMF, EtOH and SnCl2·2H2O solution was carried out using fixed parameters: a distance of 16 cm and a potential difference between the electrodes of 15 kV, resulting in composite PVP/precursor nanofibers. These nanofibers were calcined for 4 h at four different temperatures of 300, 400, 500 and 600 °C to assess the effect of the process temperature on the morphology and structure of the obtained materials
In order to investigate the morphology of the SnO2 nanowires obtained after calcination of PVP/SnCl4 nanofibers, the transmission electron microscope (TEM) characterization was carried out with the results presented in Figs. 3, 4, 5
Summary
The attention of scientists in the field of nanotechnology has been attracted by one-dimensional (1D) semiconductor nanomaterials based on metal oxides, which due to the large specific surface area, unique optical and electrical properties, can be applied in chemical sensors, batteries, fuel and solar cells, optic and optoelectronic devices or photocatalysis[1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8]. The electrospinning process of PVA, DMF, EtOH and SnCl2·2H2O solution was carried out using fixed parameters: a distance of 16 cm and a potential difference between the electrodes of 15 kV, resulting in composite PVP/precursor nanofibers These nanofibers were calcined for 4 h at four different temperatures of 300, 400, 500 and 600 °C to assess the effect of the process temperature on the morphology and structure of the obtained materials. Based on the authors’ knowledge and experience, and a review of the literature, it has been noticed that onedimensional nanomaterials characterized by both crystalline and amorphous structure may exhibit different optical, electrochemical properties as compared to those presented by completely crystalline or amorphous nanomaterials[5,12,39,40,41,42,43,44,45] Obtaining such a structure depends largely on the calcination temperature. We strive to pay special attention to these types of materials, because due to their unique properties they can be extremely valuable when used in modern optoelectronic devices
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