A process of SnO nanosheets formation by direct chemical deposition using tin(II) chloride as a tin source and sodium hydroxide as a base has been studied. Crystal structure and microstructure of the obtained powder have been studied by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and atomic force microscopy (AFM), spectral characteristics have been examined by IR and Raman spectroscopy, while thermal behavior has been analyzed using simultaneous thermal analysis (TGA/DSC) in an air flow. It has been found that the synthesized SnO is resistant to oxidation at temperatures up to 250°C. According to XRD data, the product formed has a tetragonal crystal lattice corresponding to tin monoxide with average coherent scattering region (CSR) size of 21.7 ± 1.3 nm. SEM and AFM analyses revealed that the powder has a hierarchically organized microstructure consisting of nanosheets of 26.2 ± 2 nm thick and lateral dimensions ranging from 0.6 to 4.3 µm. Electronic work function from material surface determined using Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) has been to be of 3.79 ± 0.02 eV.
Solomatov et al. (Sat,) studied this question.