Effect of hexamethylenetetramine and temperature on morphological and structural properties of hydrothermally grown ZnSn(OH)6 structure

Abstract

In this work, the effort has been conducted on the one-step hydrothermal synthesis of Zinc hydroxidestannate ZnSn(OH)6. Zinc chloride (ZnCl2) and tin(IV) chloride pentrahydrate (SnCl4•5H2O) were utilized as starting precursors of Zn and Sn and hexamethylenetetramine (HMT) was acted as pH buffer and OH- donator in the process. Effect of HMT during hydrothermal process on morphological and physical properties of the compound was investigated. The properties of hydrothermally grown ZnSn(OH)6 were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). It is revealed that HMT plays a key role on the formation of well-defined structure of ZnSn(OH)6 in form of polyhedron structures with different size depending on hydrothermal temperature. Meanwhile the irregular shape of the as-synthesized product was obtained as the growth was conducted without the assistance of HMT. Further details of results and deep discussion on its role during the growth also represented.