Synthesis of ATO nanorods by molten-salt-assisted coprecipitation process

This paper presents the synthesis of antimony-doped tin oxide (ATO) nanorods by calcining coprecipitated precursors at high temperature with sodium silicate and sodium chloride additives. From the experimental results, it is found that in order to produce crystalline ATO nanorods, sodium silicate must be added in the precursor solution before co-precipitation and the coprecipitaed precursors must be mixed with sodium chloride before calcination. By calcining at 950°C for 1 hour, the precursors that were co-precipitated at pH = 3 and added with specific amounts of sodium silicate (n(SnCl₄ + SbCl₃): n(Na₂SiO₃) = 1: 0.75) and sodium chloride (n(SnCl₄ + SbCl₃): n(NaCl) = 4: 1) transformed into ATO nanorods with size of over 300 nm in length and 10~15 nm in diameter.