Quantum confinement effects on the structural and optical properties of nanostructured tin oxide powder

Abstract

Nanostructured Tin oxide powders, prepared by chemical precipitation method, exhibit interesting structural and optical properties at nanoscale dimensions. Structural characterization confirmed the formation of pure nanostructured SnO2 powders with average crystalline grain size of 54.4[Formula: see text]nm calculated with relative uncertainty of 1.62%. The optical properties of nanoSnO2 powder performed by using transmittance and photoluminescence measurements reveal high transparency and multi-photon emissions in visible and ultraviolet regions. The different photon emissions are attributed to radiative transitions via oxygen vacancies, Sn interstitials, Sn substitutional and dangling bonds. The lower wavelength value corresponded to the absorption edge peak indicating the good quantum confinement of nanostructured SnO2 powder. The larger optical band gap, calculated through transmittance measurements, confirms the quantum confinement effects. The presence of quantum confinement and native point defects in nanostructured SnO2 powders can contribute to enhancing photon emissions process. This result may offer inherent advantages over conventional materials for photonic quantum information technology. The sustained photon emission at room temperature, indicates that SnO2 nanoparticles could be useful in room temperature quantum computing and can maintain the delicate quantum states required for computation at higher temperatures.