Microwave-assisted solution synthesis of SnO nanocrystallites

High-purity powders of SnO nanocrystallites with crystallite sizes less than 30 nm and surface areas up to 40 m 2/g have been synthesized by a solution process, in which amorphous oxy–hydroxy precipitate of Sn +2 is crystallized with microwave heating. Microwave heating was found to have selectively accelerated SnO crystallization but not the concurrent Sn +2-to-Sn +4 oxidation, which otherwise prevails in the conventional thermal heating process. Control studies give strong indication of a non-temperature effect of the microwave irradiation in the present process.