Facile synthesis of tin oxide nanofibres

In this paper, we present a facile method to synthesize SnO2 nanofibres. Unlike the conventional CVD process for synthesizing nanofibres, the present synthesis method needs neither specific source gas nor substrates. Sn–Ag alloys or powder mixtures were heat-treated at temperatures above their melting point in a vertical or horizontal alumina tube furnace. During the heat treatment, a small amount of oxygen in an atmospheric gas reacted with tin in the alloys to form SnO2 nanofibres. Silver in the tin alloys acts as a catalytic material to facilitate the formation of nanofibres. An excess amount of oxygen in the gas resulted in the formation of SnO2 nanoparticles instead of nanofibres. The synthesized nanofibres have straight form with high purity.