In recent years, in the ultrasensible sensor field, there
has been
a growing interest in diffusion of metal oxide-based semiconductors
(MOS): they are suitable materials for sensors, combining high efficiency,
fast response, stability, simple preparation, and low cost. In most
applications (gas sensing, solar cells, and photocatalysis), MOS activity
is strongly related to the specific surface area; to improve the properties
of MOS, research is moving toward nanosized structures with controllable
crystalline phases. There are many examples of synthetic methods that
permit one to obtain ceramic nanoparticles, such as thermal and physical
deposition, hydro/solvothermal processes, and more recently, electrospinning
(ES) followed by thermal treatment. The addition of an oxide precursor
to a polymeric solution and subsequent thermal treatment, above the
thermal degradation of the polymer, allow one to ablate the polymeric
matrix and, at the same time, to convert the precursor in the respective
oxide. In this work, a new synthetic route of nanosized MOS is proposed,
where the ES process, before calcination, is indeed replaced by the
simple kneading of the precursors in the presence of an excess of
cyclodextrins (CDs). The CD structure with the presence of a slightly
apolar cavity and a hydrophilic external part determines the ability
to establish specific interactions with various types of molecules
through the formation of noncovalently bonded complexes, either in
the solid phase or in aqueous solution. The possibility to exploit
inclusion complexes of CDs and metal precursors to obtain nanostructured
oxides is herein demonstrated. The inclusion complexes were prepared
using zinc oxide (ZnAc) and tin(II) ethylexanoate (precursors of SnO2 and ZnO) and by exploiting a solvent-free approach based
on the kneading of α-CD, β-CD, and γ-CD and precursors
in a ball mill. The use of kneading overcomes all the limitations
related to poorly soluble or insoluble compounds, permitting one to
avoid the use of solvents and to speed up the preparation of the MOS
precursor. The complexes after kneading were characterized by thermogravimetric
analyses and then thermally treated to obtain oxides. After the synthesis,
the so-obtained SnO2 and ZnO nanoparticles were characterized
by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction
and by measuring the specific surface area by the Brunauer–Emmett–Teller
method, putting in evidence of an influence of the CD size on the
final oxide.