Facile synthesis of boscage-like SnO2 nanorods by hydrothermal method

• Boscage SnO2 nanorods were synthesized by hydrothermal route only using alcohol/water solvents.
• Boscage-like assembled by numerous SnO2 nanorods with uniform diameter of 4–10 nm.
• SnO2 nanorods assembled by nanoparticles via the Ostwald-ripening assisted oriented attachment.

Boscage-like SnO2 nanorods were successfully synthesized by a facile one-step hydrothermal route only using the sodium stannate trihydrate solution of alcohol and water, without any surfactants and substrates. X-ray diffraction spectra, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy were used to examine the morphology and microstructure of SnO2 nanorods boscages. The results show that the SnO2 nanorods boscage consists of single crystalline, rutile SnO2 nanorods with a diameter of 4–10 nm and length of about 200 nm. The formation and growth of the boscage-like SnO2 nanorods can be rationally expressed by the Ostwald-ripening assisted oriented attachment mechanism as a kinetically controlled nonclassical crystallization process.