Growth mechanism of SnO2 nanomaterials derived from backscattered electron image and EDX observations

• Main Authors: De Los Reyes, Ronald B., Santos, Gil Nonato C., Quiroga, Reuben V.
• Format: text
• Published: Animo Repository 2009
• Subjects: Nanostructured materials; Stannic oxide; Backscattering; Physics
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/faculty_research/5152
• Institution: De La Salle University

SnO2 nanomaterials were synthesized using the unseeded, non-catalytic horizontal vapor phase growth (HVPG) deposition. The sample was synthesized at a growth temperature of 1200oC and growth time of 6 hours. The resulting nanostructures ranges from nano- wires, nanorods to nanobelts as confirmed by JEOL JSM 5310-SEM. Backscattered electron image observations show that nanobelts has less intense brightness compared to nanorod and nanowire images. This suggests that the nanobelts are of lighter composition. Using energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis, it was confirmed that the nanobelts are oxygen deficient, being made up of SnO while the nanorods and nanowires are made of the more common SnO2. From these findings, a growth mechanism was proposed detailing the transition of the SnO2 nanostructures from the powder SnO2 source material.