Facile synthesis of single-crystal tin oxide nanorods with tunable dimensions via hydrothermal process

Single-crystal SnO2 nanorods with tunable diameters and lengths, ∼42 × 197, ∼5.5 × 19.3 and ∼4.5 × 39.1 nm, have been synthesized through a simple hydrothermal process, using a mixture of water/ethanol (1:1 in volume), a mixture of water/ethanol (1:1 in volume) with cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide, and pure ethanol as reaction media, respectively. X-ray diffraction, electron microscopy, UV–Visible spectroscopy and other techniques were used to characterize the nanorods. The as-synthesized SnO2 nanorods exhibit preferential growth along the [0 0 1] direction. The related mechanisms of the oriented growth and dimensional tunableness are discussed.