Hydrothermal synthesis of novel Zn2SnO4 octahedron microstructures assembled with hexagon nanoplates

Zn2SnO4 with novel octahedron structures have been successfully synthesized on a large scale by applying surfactant hexadecyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) throughout controllable hydrothermal reaction. X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microcopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) were used to characterize the final products. The results have revealed that three-dimensional (3D) Zn2SnO4 octahedrons were assembled with numerous intercrossed hexagon nanoplates with a mean edge length of 300 nm and an average thickness of 50 nm. Based on the time-dependent experimental results, the growth mechanism has been thoroughly investigated. The morphology of as-prepared octahedrons evolved from cubes with branched structures on their surfaces to octahedrons assembled with hexagon nanoplates, indicating that the process of crystal growth was controlled by a crystallization-dissolution-recrystallization growth mechanism. More importantly, we found that CTAB played a key role during the total formation process of as-obtained Zn2SnO4 octahedrons. UV-vis spectroscopy was further employed to estimate the band gap energy of the octahedron microstructures.