Synthesis and Characterization of Ultra-Fine Tin Oxide Fibers Using Electrospinning |
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Authors: | Yu Wang,Milca Aponte,Neliza Leon,Idalia Ramos,Rogerio Furlan,Nicholas Pinto,Stephane Evoy, Jorge J. Santiago-Avilé s |
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Affiliation: | Department of Physics &Electronics, University of Puerto Rico at Humacao, CUH Station, Humacao, Puerto Rico 00791; Department of Electrical &Systems Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104 |
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Abstract: | Ultrafine tin oxide (SnO2) fibers having a rutile structure, with diameter ranging from 100 nm to several micrometers, were synthesized using electrospinning and metallorganic decomposition techniques. In this work, we propose a precursor solution that is a mixture of pure SnO2 sol made from SnCl4:H2O:C3H7OH:2-C3H7OH at a molar ratio of 1:9:9:6, and a viscous solution made from poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) (molecular weight 900 000) and chloroform (CHCl3) at a ratio of 200 mg PEO/10 mL CHCl3. This solution allows to obtain an appropriate viscosity for the electrospinning process. The as-deposited fibers were sintered at 400°, 500°, 600°, 700°, and 800°C in air for 2 h. Scanning electron microscopy, scanning probe microscopy, X-ray diffraction, Raman microspectrometry, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were used to characterize the sintered fibers and elucidate the chemical reaction during sintering. The results showed that up to the sintering temperature of 700°C, the synthesized fibers are composed of SnO2. XPS was found to reflect the complicate chemical changes caused by the sintering process. |
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