Nanosized SnO₂ Prepared by Electrospinning: Influence of the Polymer on Both Morphology and Microstructure

An electrospinning (ES) procedure of polymeric solutions containing metal oxide precursors, followed by thermal treatments, was exploited to obtain SnO₂ nanofibers. Attention was focused on the effect of different templating polymers (polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP), polyethylene oxide (PEO) and polyvinyl acetate (PVAc)) on the morphologies and particle size distributions of SnO₂. We demonstrated that with different polymers, the final oxide's morphology and crystallite size change. Defined fibers, with homogeneous diameter, were obtained with each polymer, but, after calcination, the morphology of the oxide changes, leading to fibers, "flakes" or "sphere-shaped" particles when PVP, PEO or PVAc were used, respectively, as evidenced by SEM images. Data from HR-TEM and XRD measurements confirm that SnO₂ samples consist of crystalline cassiterite, with small mean particle dimensions calculated by Debye-Scherrer equation, i.e., 30, 11 and 25 nm with PVP, PEO and PVAc, respectively. TEM measurements put in evidence lower average particle sizes and for SnO₂ obtained with PEO average size of 8.5 nm with a standard deviation of ±4.9 nm was evidenced. By applying different calcination temperatures on fiber mat obtained by the same polymer, i.e., PEO, the influence of polymer not only on the final shape of the oxide particles but also on the crystallite size was definitively demonstrated.