Preparation of SnO2 nanowires by solvent-free method using mesoporous silica template and their gas sensitive properties

In this paper, a facile method was presented to synthesize tin dioxide (SnO2) nanowires by solvent-free method using SnCl2 x 2H2O as precursor and mesoporous silica SBA-15 as the hard template. No solvent was used in the processing. The products were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and N2 adsorption/desorption isotherms. The results indicated that SnO2 nanowires fabricated by this method have a diameter of about 8 nm and a relatively high surface area 73.0 m2/g. The gas sensing properties of SnO2 nanowires were measured. The response and recovery time of this sensor were 6 s and 12 s, respectively. With the concentration of toluene increasing, the response of the sensor doubled increase. Compared with bulk SnO2, SnO2 nanowires showed much higher response to toluene.