Synthesis and characterization of Zn-doped mesoporous SnO₂ by using thermally-stable block copolymer templates

By using novel triblock copolymer templates, thermally-stable ordered mesoporous SnO₂ thin films are synthesized through a solvent evaporation method. Owing to the high thermal stability of the triblock copolymer, the mesoporous structure is retained even after calcination at 600 °C. After the crystallization, the mesopore walls consist of small crystallite nanoparticles a few nanometers in diameter. By doping Zn species into the SnO₂ framework, fine control of the crystallite sizes is successfully achieved. Under the optimized Zn content, the well-defined mesoporous structure is completely maintained after calcination at 600 °C.