Controllable growth of SnO2 nanoparticles by citric acid assisted hydrothermal process

SnO2 nanoparticles were prepared by citric acid assisted hydrothermal process and its microstructure and optoelectronic properties had been investigated. Based on XRD, TEM and FT-IR analyses, the SnO2 crystallites with the tetragonal rutile structure were directly formed. The crystalline grain size of SnO2 was 6.0 nm and its specific surface area reached 206 m2/g. The room temperature photoluminescence proved that it had a blue emission, which increased remarkably after SnO2 calcined at 800 °C.