Restricting the High-Temperature Growth of Nanocrystalline Tin Oxide

The sensitivity of tin oxide is dependent on various factors, one of which is the grain size. Three methods have been investigated with the aim of stabilising the grain size in the nanometer range, namely; (i) encapsulation within a silica matrix, (ii) coating the crystallites with hexamethyldisilazane and (iii) pinning the grain boundaries with a second metal oxide nanocrystal. The resulting materials have been characterised by X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD), Extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) and conductivity measurements.