Title: Structural and optical properties of undoped and Mn-doped SnO₂ nanoparticles by hydrothermal method

Authors: J. Gajendiran; V. Rajendran

Addresses: Department of Physics, Presidency College, Chennai-600 005, Tamil Nadu, India ' Department of Physics, Presidency College, Chennai-600 005, Tamil Nadu, India

Abstract: Undoped and Mn-doped tin oxide (SnO₂) nanoparticles were synthesised using precursors such as tin salt and alkali hydroxide as a mineraliser via a simple hydrothermal method. X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high-resolution TEM (HR-TEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectra (EDX), UV-vis absorption spectra and photoluminescence (PL) spectra were used to characterise the undoped and Mn-doped SnO₂ samples. The confirmation of the nanoparticles size and the nanocrystalline nature of SnO₂ samples were carried out using TEM and selected area electron diffraction (SAED) respectively. The EDX analysis proved the presence of Mn ions into the SnO₂ sample. The band gap energy of the undoped (3.90eV) and Mn-doped SnO₂ (3.95eV) samples is estimated from the UV-visible absorption spectra and may be used in optoelectronic devices. The mechanism for the hydrothermal synthesis of the SnO₂ nanoparticles is also discussed.

Keywords: nanostructures; semiconductors; X-ray diffraction; optical properties; structural properties; undoped nanoparticles; magnesium doping; SnO2 nanoparticles; hydrothermal synthesis; tin oxide; particle size; nanocrystalline; band gap energy.

DOI: 10.1504/IJNP.2014.064865

International Journal of Nanoparticles, 2014 Vol.7 No.2, pp.92 - 99

Received: 10 Dec 2012
Accepted: 28 Dec 2013
Published online: 30 Sep 2014 *

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