Preparation and structural properties of nanosized SnO_2 with Fe_2O_3

Fe_2O_3 doped nanosized SnO_2 powders have been prepared by chemical co-precipitation method using SnCl_4 and FeCl_3 as starting material. The structural and size of nanosized SnO_2/Fe_2O_3 were investigated by differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) and thermo-gravimetric(TG), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscope (TEM) and the main conclusions can be obtained as follows: (1) Fe_2O_3 adulteration can reduce temperature for the Sn(OH)_4 decomposes into nanosized SnO_2, the decomposed temperature is declined from 345.7℃ of pure Sn(OH)_4 to 341.1℃ of composite hydroxide; (2) Fe_2O_3 adulteration can efficiently prevent the reuniting and growing-up of nanosized SnO_2. When the calcination temperature is 650℃, the size of pure SnO_2 is about 25nm and the Fe_2O_3 doped SnO_2 is about 2nm; (3) Fe_2O_3 adulteration can widen the range of calcination temperature for SnO_2. For example, for 10nm SnO_2, the calcination temperature of pure Sn(OH)_4 is 400 to 550℃, that with Fe_2O_3 is 400 to 650℃; (4) Below 650℃, The powders of SnO_2 doped with Fe_2O_3 have tetragonal lattice structure. Fe_2O_3 separated from the SnO_2 crystallites and formed two phase structure above 650℃.