Effect of Sn doping on structural, optical, electrical and wettability properties of oriented ZnO nanorod arrays

Abstract

Herein we present a modified sol gel route for the one step fabrication of oriented ZnO nanorod arrays. The method is seed layer free, and nanorods directly attach to a substrate. We also present the effect of tin (Sn) content on the crystallinity, microstructural, optical and electrical properties of the ZnO nanorod arrays. Thermo gravimetric (TG) curves of gel precursors showed that most of the organic groups and other volatiles were removed at about 450°C. X-ray diffraction patterns confirmed that the films were polycrystalline in nature with (002) preferred orientation. The texture coefficient, grain size, dislocation density and lattice parameters of the ZnO arrays were determined. The SEM micrographs revealed that the undoped and 1 at.%Sn doped films were composed of nanorods and the concentration of 2 at.%Sn doping hindered the rod like structure growth and modulated into granular nature. UVvisible transmission spectroscopy indicated that the transparency of the films increased with Sn content. On Sn doping, the films also exhibited a red shift and slight shrinkage of band gap. The electrical studies revealed that 1 at.% of Sn doping enhanced electrical conduction in ZnO films and beyond that the distortion caused in the lattice reduced the conductivity. The contact angle of the ZnO nanostructures varied between 91°and 115°depending upon the Sn content. Therefore, 1 at.%Sn doping into ZnO nanorods improves the crystallinity, electrical conductivity and water contact angle.

Structural, morphological and optical properties of Sn doped zinc oxide thin films synthesis by sol-gel method for photocatalytic applications

“…The Urbach energy was observed to increase as a function of doping concentration due to enhanced crystal disorder [45]. Similar results have also been reported for E u at high doping concentrations of Sn in earlier studies [45][46][47].…”

Evolution of Relaxor‐Type High‐k Dielectric in Bulk Pristine Cu2+ and Li+ Co‐Substituted Wurtzite ZnO

“…It is well established that the physical characteristics of nanomaterials are affected by the size and morphology of nanoparticles. Due to the substitution of guest ions in the ZnO lattice, the increase in the surface/volume ratio due to the decrease in the size of the crystallites allows surface defects to play an important role in all surface-induced applications such as gas adsorption, [31][32][33] wettability, [34,35] photocatalytic activities [36] along with it get applications in gap optics [37] and transparent conductors. [38] The most promising doping atoms for p-type ZnO production are the I and V elements, however, it is difficult to introduce the acceptor level in the ZnO band gap.…”