Synthesis of ultra-fine porous tin oxide fibres and its process characterization

Porous rutile-structured SnO2 fibres, with their length of several millimetres, diameter from 100 nm to 40 µm and potentials for sensor applications, were synthesized from a precursor solution of poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO), chloroform (CHCl3) and dimethyldineodecanoate tin (C22H44O4Sn) using electrospinning and metal–organic decomposition techniques. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric and differential thermal analysis and x-ray diffraction were used to characterize the synthesized fibres so as to reveal the series of physical and chemical changes occurring from the starting chemicals to the final product of ultra-fine SnO2 fibres: the solvent CHCl3 evaporates during the electrospinning; the organic groups in PEO and C22H44O4Sn decompose, with Sn–C bond in C22H44O4Sn replaced by Sn–O between 220 and 300 °C, and the atomic arrangement transforms into the genesis of a rutile-type lattice between 300 and 380 °C; the incipient lattice finally develops into the rutile structure during heat treatment at higher temperatures up to 600 °C.