The surface morphology of tin oxide nanobelts (NB) was studied with scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), dry-deposited on TiO2 substrates. XPS shows carbon contamination on as-grown, air-exposed SnO2 nanobelts, which was removed by oxygen plasma cleaning. The thermal stability of the NBs was studied with SEM and critical temperatures, where structural changes occur in UHV, O2 atmosphere, and air, were determined. Atomically resolved STM images show a SnO2(101)-(1 × 1) structure on the top NB surface.
Reprints available from U. Diebold (diebold).
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