Synthesis of mesoporous structured material based on tin oxide

Abstract

Mesoporous structured tin oxide with high specific surface area was synthesized under acidic conditions at ambient temperature in this study. The synthesis of this material was accomplished using a cationic surfactant (cetyltrimethylammonium bromide: CH 3(CH 2) 15N +(CH 3) 3Br −) as the organic supramolecular template and the hydrous tin chloride (SnCl 4·5H 2O) and NH 4OH as the inorganic precursor and counterion source. X-ray diffraction, thermogravimetric analysis and transmission electron microscopy have been used to characterize the mesostructures formed at room temperature as well as calcined at different temperature. The synthesis procedure strongly influenced the formation of the mesophase. The pore diameters and the surface areas of materials, evaluated from the N 2-sorption isotherms, indicate average pore diameters of about 22 and 24 Å and surface areas about 368 and 343 m 2/g for calcination at 300 and 350 °C respectively. The formation of the tin oxide mesostructured material was proposed due to the presence of the hydrogen-bonding interactions between supramolecular template and inorganic precursors Sn 4+ and OH −, which were supposed to self-assemble around the cationic surfactant molecules.