Yongdong Yang

Synthesis of metal Sn nanobelts from SnO2 nanopowders by a substitution reaction

Metal Sn nanobelts have been fabricated by a substitution reaction using pure Zn powders and SnO2 nanopowders as starting material. The morphology and structural properties of Sn nanobelts were measured by scanning electron microscopy and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. The products consist of a large number of beltlike nanostructures with typical lengths in the range of several tens to several hundreds of micrometres and the typical widths of Sn nanobelts are in the range of several tens to several hundreds of nanometres. Sn nanobelts are pure, structurally uniform, and single crystalline. The synthesis of single-crystalline metal Sn nanobelts may open up new possibilities for experimental and theoretical understanding of dimensionally confined transport phenomena of quasi-one-dimensional metal nanomaterials.