Growth kinetics of nanograins in SnO2 fibers and size dependent sensing properties

Abstract The present study investigates the growth kinetics of SnO 2 nanograins and determines the activation energy and mechanism of the growth in nanofiber form. The activation energy for the growth of the SnO 2 nanograins was estimated to be ∼28.28 kJ/mol, which is an order of magnitude smaller than that of bulk SnO 2 . The estimated m value suggests that the growth mechanism of the nanograins is primarily through lattice diffusion in the pore control scheme. Precise control of the calcination temperature and time is necessary to maximize the efficiency of electrospinning-synthesized SnO 2 nanofibers for sensor applications. Importantly, the sensor fabricated with nanofibers of small nanograins showed much better sensing properties to CO and NO 2 comparing with the sensor fabricated with nanofibers of large nanograins. A mechanism to explain this finding is suggested.

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