Synthesis of SnO2 nanopowders by a sol-gel process using propanol-isopropanol mixture

• Published in: Central European journal of chemistry 2008-12, Vol.6 (4), p.651-656
• Main Authors: Hassanzadeh, Ali, Moazzez, Behrang, Haghgooie, Hossein, Nasseri, Mohsen, Golzan, Mir Maqsood, Sedghi, Hassan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Alkoxide ligand; Biochemistry; Biological and Medical Physics; Biophysics; Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; Chemistry/Food Science; Geochemistry; Isopropanol; Propanol; Research Article; SnO2 nanopowder; Sol-gel
• ISSN: 1895-1066; 2391-5420; 1644-3624; 2391-5420
• DOI: 10.2478/s11532-008-0072-x

A simple sol-gel process is proposed for synthesizing SnO 2 nanopowders utilizing normal propanol and isopropanol mixture instead of just using normal alcohols such as ethanol, propanol or butanol for Sol preparation. No surfactant was used in this Sol preparation process. The structure of sol is studied by FT-IR-ATR technique. On altering propanol to isopropanol ratio, three different nanopowders were obtained. X-ray powder diffraction, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), selected area electron diffraction pattern (SAED) and BET techniques were used to characterize prepared powders. Results show that smaller grain size was obtained via altering alcohols ratio. In addition, Merck commercial SnO 2 powder was also used as a reference material for comparing purposes; because it has nanometer scale (ca. 60 nm). HRTEM images show that obtained nanopowders were polycrystalline and their average diameters fall into the range of 6–80 nm. Finally, the effect of alkoxide ligand size through sol-gel synthesis on product particle size is discussed.