Tin oxide nanostructure fabrication via sequential infiltration synthesis in block copolymer thin films

Abstract

Tin oxide (SnO2) nanostructures are attractive for sensing, catalysis, and optoelectronic applications. Here we investigate the fabrication of SnOx nanostructures through sequential infiltration synthesis (SIS) in block copolymer (BCP) film templates. While the growth of metal and metal oxides within polymers and BCP films via SIS has been demonstrated until now using small precursors such as trimethyl aluminum and diethyl zinc, we hypothesize that SIS can be performed using larger precursors and demonstrate SnOx SIS with tetrakis(dimethylamino)tin (TDMASn) and hydrogen peroxide. Tuning the SIS reaction and BCP chemistry resulted in highly ordered, polystyrene-block-poly(2-vinyl pyridine) (P2VP)-templated porous SnOx - AlOx and SnOx nanostructures. Detailed investigation using in-situ microbalance, high resolution electron microscopy, elemental analysis and infra-red spectroscopy shows that SnOx can directly grow within P2VP homopolymer and BCP films. Simultaneously with the growth, SnOx SIS process also contributes to the polymer etch. Performing SnOx SIS with pretreatment of a single AlOx SIS cycle increases the SnOx growth and protects the BCP template from etching. This is the first report of SnOx SIS opening a pathway for additional tetrakis-based organometallic precursors to be utilized in growth processes within polymers.