Synthesis of supramolecular-templated mesostructured tin oxide

In this study mesostructured tin oxide was synthesized for the first time under acidic conditions at room temperature. Mesostructured tin oxides possessing different d-spacing were synthesized using a cationic surfactant (cetyltrimethylammonium bromide, CTAB) as the organic supramolecular template, hydrous tin chloride (SnCl4·5H2O) as the inorganic precursor and NH4OH as the counterion source. The synthetic factors (such as the ratio of reactants, aging time) were investigated. The resultant products were examined by XRD, TEM, and TGA. It was found that the ratio of CTAB/Sn4+ was important to the d-spacing of the (1 0 0) layer of the material. The formation of the tin oxide mesostructured material was proposed to be due to the presence of interactions between the supramolecular template and inorganic precursors Sn4+ and OH−, which was supposed to self-assemble around the cationic surfactant molecules.