Synthesis and characterization of hollow glass microspheres coated by SnO2 nanoparticles

The composite of hollow glass microspheres coated by SnO2 nanoparticles has been successfully fabricated via sol-gel method. The phase structures, morphologies, particle size, shell thickness, chemical compositions of the composite have been characterized by XRD, FESEM, and EDX. The results show that SnO2 coating on hollow glass microspheres can be achieved, and the coating layers are constituted by SnO2 nanoparticles of mean size ca. 15 nm. The SnO2 coating layers grow thicker with the increased concentration of SnCl4. The effects of parameters (reaction temperature, concentration of NaOH and SnCl4, and time) were investigated to yield SnO2 coating on hollow glass microspheres, and the UV–vis absorption spectra of the composites were studied.