Temperature-induced evolution of novel mixture-phased particles at the tips of SnO2 whiskers

A mixture of Sn, In, and Ge powders was thermally evaporated to synthesize SnO2 whiskers. Elevation of the growth temperature from 800 °C to 900 °C contributed to the generation of mixture-phased particles at the tips of whickers, due to the change of the dominant growth mechanism from base-growth vapor–liquid–solid (VLS) to a tip-growth VLS process. We observed that the particles were comprised of a mixture of tetragonal SnO2, rhombohedral In2O3, and hexagonal GeO2. The composite materials exhibited stable and reproducible sensing properties with respect to NO2 and CO.

► Growth mechanism of SnO2 nanowires was changed by varying the temperature.
► Elevating the temperature generated mixture-phased particles at the tip of whickers.
► Stable and reproducible sensing properties with respect to NO2 and CO were exhibited.