Facile Synthesis of a Crystalline, High‐Surface‐Area SnO₂ Aerogel

Abstract

Preparation of a low-density, high- surface-area SnO2 aerogel (see Figure inset), comprised of interconnected, randomly oriented crystalline (rutile) SnO2 nanoparticles ∼3–5 nm in size is reported. X-ray absorption near-edge structure spectroscopy at the Sn M4,5 edge reveals that the electronic structure of the SnO2 aerogel is similar to that of tetragonal SnO, rather than SnO2 or β-Sn, with additional Sn-related electronic states close to the conduction band minimum.