Synthesis of silver tin oxide nanocomposite powders via chemical coprecipitation method

A nanocomposite powder Ag-SnO2 was produced by the chemical coprecipitation technique using Sn element, SnCl2.2H2O and silver nitrate as starting materials and carbonate solutions as precipitating agents. The effect of the chlorine ion, ionic strength and supersaturation were investigated for nanopowder using X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray mapping. The fine and uniformly dispersed microstructure are attained by using coprecipitation method. Higher ionic strength leads to lower particle size of nanocomposite. The undesirable chlorine ion, which leads to instability in contact surface, is eliminated by replacing SnCl2.2H2O instead of Sn element as starting material. Also the degree of agglomeration decreases with this change. The results show that the increasing in the supersaturation of environment enhances the nucleation. So it causes a reduction in the nanocomposite particle size to 50%.