Low Surface Energy and pH Effect on SnO2 Nanoparticles Formation for Supercapacitor Applications

Abstract

The SnO2 nanoparticles formation by hydrothermal method at different experimental conditions such as temperature, pH, reaction time, and capping agent (cetyltrimethylammonium bromide), was studied. X-ray diffraction results confirmed regular rutile crystal structure of SnO2. The characteristic Raman peak observed at 635 cm−1 corresponded to A1g modes of Sn–O vibrations. The study of optical property using photoluminescence confirmed the emissive spectra of SnO2. The infrared peak observed at 618 cm−1 corresponded to Eu modes of Sn–O vibrations of TO phonon because of E⊥ to c-axis. Scanning electron microscope images clearly revealed the formation of complete SnO2 nanoparticles. The unique SnO2 nanoparticles stacked together to form microspheres at pH-5 showed high specific capacitance of 274.8 F/g at a current density of 0.5 A/g. The observed results confirmed the feasibility of SnO2 nanoparticles being used as appropriate positive electrode candidate for supercapacitor applications.