Synthesis and optical analyses of fluorine doped tin oxide (SnO2) nanoparticles

Abstract

The study was focused on to synthesis of pure and fluorine-doped SnO2 (FTO) nanoparticles by sol-gel method combining with low temperature, 300 °C, annealing process, immediately after gelation. The relationship between the structural and optical properties of FTO was investigated to understand the effects of fluorine amount on the optical transmittance ratio and configuration of electronic energy levels. Homogeneous distribution of fluorine in SnO2 lattice was observed at all synthesized FTO powders. In addition, the change in electronic energy configuration was investigated by the fluctuation from 3.85 eV to 3.64 eV in band gap energy values according to the amount of fluorine in SnO2. The optical transmittance values were observed in the range of ∼90% and 95%. Optical analysis proved that the amount of fluorine had no specific effect on the high optical transmittance performances of SnO2 particles in the visible region, however the F amount had high impact on band gap energy values due to due to varying defect intensity.