Characterization of SnO2 Nanoparticles Prepared by Two Different Wet Chemistry Methods

Abstract

Effects of synthesis techniques, namely sol gel method and direct growth method on the nanostructural and optical properties of SnO2 have been investigated. The XRD results confirmed that both samples are single phase SnO2. The crystallite size of SnO2 prepared by sol-gel and direct growth method were approximately 10 nm and 15 nm respectively. The FE-SEM micrographs displayed that SnO2 nanoparticles prepared by sol gel method exhibited a round shape with approximate particle size of 10 nm while the direct growth method produced SnO2 nanorod with length and width of 570 nm and 55 nm respectively. The direct Eg for both SnO2 nanospheres and nanorods are 3.98 eV and 3.94 eV respectively, Due to quantum confinement effect, both nanomaterials exhibited strong blue shift compared to bulk material with Eg of 3.6 eV.