Sn-catalyzed synthesis of SnO2 nanowires and their optoelectronic characteristics

We report the rational synthesis of one-dimensional SnO2 nanowires (SnO(2)NWs) via a Sn-catalyzed vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) growth mechanism, in which Sn nanoparticles can direct the oriented growth of SnO(2)NWs at high temperature. I-V measurement of a field effect transistor made of individual SnO(2)NWs exhibits typical n-type semiconducting characteristics with an electron mobility and concentration of 14.36 cm(2) V-1 s(-1) and 1.145 x 10(17) cm(-3), respectively. The SnO2NW-based photodetector shows a high sensitivity to UV light radiation, and a fast light response speed of millisecond rise time/fall time with excellent stability and reproducibility, whereas it is nearly blind to illumination with wavelengths in the visible range. Detailed reasons to account for the detection selectivity and rapid response speed are proposed. The generality of the above results suggests that our SnO2NW photodetectors have potential application in nanoscaled optoelectronic devices.