Reproducible shape control of single-crystal SnO micro particles

A straightforward method for synthesizing single-crystalline SnO micro particles in an organic medium using tin acetylacetonate as the precursor and oleylamine as the capping ligand is proposed. For the first time, well-defined four-petal starfish-like SnO sheets were obtained in the organic medium. In addition, the shape of the particles could be reproducibly tuned such that their structures varied from cubes to squares and then to starfish-like sheets by simply changing the concentration of oleylamine. The underlying mechanism of this process was found to be closely related to the interaction of the stabilizing agent with the SnO crystal planes. Changing the concentration of the stabilizing agent could modify this interaction, leading to the preferential growth of certain crystal planes of SnO particles which determined the particle shape. This synthesis approach is advantageous in terms of allowing control over the particle shape as well as for its simplicity and short reaction time. Our results yield crucial insights regarding the shape evolution of SnO particles.