Photoluminescence properties of pure, Fe-doped and surfactant-assisted Fe-doped tin-oxide nanoparticles

Abstract

A co-precipitation method with water as a distinctive solvent was used for the synthesis of pure, Fe-doped and surfactant-assisted Fe-doped SnO2 nanoparticles (NPs). Furthermore, the NPs were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier-transform infrared, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with energy-dispersive X-ray analysis (EDAX), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), UV–visible, photoluminescence spectroscopy and spectrofluorometer. XRD patterns showed a tetragonal rutile structure of SnO2 phase without additional peaks and a shift was noted for Fe-doped and surfactant-assisted Fe-doped samples. The crystallite sizes of Fe-doped and surfactant-assisted Fe-doped SnO2 NPs were found to decrease from 10.39 to 6.347 nm. Spherical morphology with uniform size was observed in all samples from SEM and HRTEM images. The presence of Sn, O and Fe ions was confirmed by EDAX analysis. The band gap energy of NPs was measured to be 3.487, 3.741, 3.845, 3.783 and 3.552 eV for pure, Fe-doped, cetyltrimethylammonium bromide, sodium dodecyl sulphate and Triton (surfactants) assisted Fe-doped NPs, respectively. An increase in the band gap was observed due to addition of Fe and surfactants. The photocatalytic study confirms that pure SnO2 NPs exhibit a significant photo-degradation of methylene blue dye under sun light. Moreover, the physical properties of SnO2 were modified by Fe-doping and addition of surfactants in comparison with pure SnO2 NPs.