Facile synthesis and catalytic property of porous tin dioxide nanostructures

Porous tin dioxide (SnO2) nanostructures consisting of nanoplates are prepared through thermal decomposition of the mixed solution composed of dibutyltin dilaurate and acetic acid. The aggregations of the nanoplates give rise to large macropores with the size of about 100-300 nm. These nanoplates have a wormhole-like porous structure with the size of about 4 nm and possess high surface area. X-ray powder diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, infrared spectroscopy, and nitrogen sorption have been employed to characterize the obtained porous structures. It is found that the obtained nanostructures exhibit excellent catalytic activity toward methanol decomposition. Such porous structures with high surface area have promising industrial applications as catalysts.