Preparation and characterisation of nanosized antimony-doped tin dioxide powders with a novel post-treatment process

Nanosized antimony-doped tin dioxide (ATO) was prepared by wet chemical method using SnCl4 and SbCl3 as raw materials. Effects of post-treatment method of precursor on particle characterisation were studied by X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, granulometry measurements and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. A novel post-treatment process with polyacrylamide (PAM) in preparing nanomaterials was presented for the first time. Experimental results show that nonionic PAM is a highly effective additive, which not only speeds up the filtration of precursor, but also effectively reduces the formation of hard agglomerates. The average size of ATO nanopowders prepared, using nonionic PAM as a filtration aid and disperser, is smaller than 8 nm and its resistance rate is about 0.135 Omega cm.