Sb/F-codoped SnO2 nanofibers synthesized by electrospinning

Abstract

In this present work, metal and non-metal doping in tin oxide nanofibers was fabricated by electrospinning technique. Sb/F co-doped SnO2 nanofibers was synthesized by using polyvinylpyrrolidone as polymer precursor and SnCl4·5H2O, SbCl3, NH4F as tin, antimony and fluorine source, respectively. The concentration of polyvinylpyrrolidone and stannic chloride dissolved with mixture solvent of Dimethylformamide and absolute Ethanol were fixed at 8 and 10%w/w and used as staring precursors. Electrospinning process was carried out at 10 kV of applied voltage by maintaining tip to collector distance of 10 cm and the feeding speed of mixed precursor was controlled at 0.5 ml/h. The as-spun nanofibers mats were calcined in air at 600°C for 3 hours to obtain the doped-SnO2 nanofibers. Thermogravimetric and X-ray diffraction results support that the optimized calcined temperature to remove polyvinylpyrrolidone template and oxidize Sn precursor is 600°C. The morphologies of Sb/F co-doped SnO2 nanofibers appear in rough surface with rearrangement of Sb/F doped SnO2 porous nanobeads. The average diameter of Sb/F doped SnO2 nanofibers is 422 nm with the crystallite size about 22 nm. Fourier-transform infrared and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy results indicate states of transformation of starting precusors to the formation of Sb/F doped SnO2 nanofibers.