Synthesis and Characterization of the Orthorhombic Sn3O4 Polymorph

An unexplored tin oxide crystal phase (Sn3O4) was experimentally synthesized via a facile hydrothermal method. After tuning the often-neglected parameters for the hydrothermal synthesis, namely the degree of filling of the precursor solution and the gas composition in the reactor head space, an unreported X-ray diffraction pattern was discovered. Through various characterization studies, such as Rietveld analysis, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and first-principles calculations, this novel material was characterized as orthorhombic mixed-valence tin oxide with the composition (Sn2SnO4)-Sn-II-O-IV. This orthorhombic tin oxide is a new polymorph of Sn3O4, which differs from the reported conventional monoclinic structure. Computational and experimental analyses showed that orthorhombic Sn3O4 has a smaller band gap (2.0 eV), enabling greater absorption of visible light. This study is expected to improve the accuracy of hydrothermal synthesis and aid the discovery of new oxide materials.