Abstract
Various SnO2 1-D nanostructures were synthesized by adjusting the experimental parameters. We have successfully synthesized the hockey-like SnO2 nanowires under ambient pressure; waterweed-like SnO2 nanowires by a two-step process; SnO2 nanowires and nanorods were synthesized under different working temperatures; moreover, SnO2 nanowires with different included angles were also synthesized. SnO2 nanostructures on the silicon substrate with Au as catalyst have been synthesized. However, we have also synthesized SnO2 nanowires on Al2O3 by using Ti as catalyst. In addition to the VLS mechanism, various growth mechanisms of the SnO2 1-D nanostructures were also discussed, such as Ostwald ripening.Furthermore, we have focused on the properties and applications of these SnO2 nanostructures. SnO2 nanowires with branched structures and waterweed-like SnO2 nanowires were compared in terms of optical properties, field emission tests, and gas senor tests. These two SnO2 nanostructures show good properties in field emission tests, and good field-enhancement factor β (βH=4054.37 in SnO2 nanowires with branched structures; βH=2086.92 in waterweed-like SnO2 nanowires). In gas sensor tests, the sensitivity of waterweed-like SnO2 nanowires is superior to SnO2 nanowires with branched structure on detecting CO and C2H5OH owing to higher surface-to-volume ratio of waterweed-like SnO2 nanowires.