[en] Full text: Zinc stannate (Zn₂SnO₄ ) is a transparent semiconducting oxide material that presents high electrical conductivity and low visible absorption, which make it suitable for application as gas sensor and photocatalyst to degrade organic pollutants . This work aims to synthesize Zn₂SnO₄ powders by the modified-Pechini method, using metallic tin as precursor , instead of tin chloride as traditionally done. Furthermore, the influence of the synthesis conditions, such as reaction time, heat treatment temperature and zinc precursor, were evaluated in the preparation of this material. The resins were calcined at 350 deg C for 2 hours to obtain the powder precursors, which were heat treated at 600, 700, 800 and 900 deg C for 2 hours. These materials were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Infrared spectroscopy and UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy. According to the XRD patterns, Zn₂SnO₄ spinel was obtained at 600 deg C, besides peaks related to ZnO and SnO₂ , present as secondary phases. When the heat treatment temperature increases the intensity of these peaks decreases and Zn₂SnO₄ is obtained as single phase at 900 deg C, with high crystalline quality. The band gap values, calculated from the UV-Vis absorption spectra, varied from 2.9 to 3.2 eV. A higher long range order was observed for the materials obtained from the synthesis using zinc acetate when the reaction time was longer, indicating that a better distribution of cations throughout the resin was attained. (author)