Photoluminescence Studies on Nanocrystalline Tin Oxide Powder for Optoelectronic Devices

Nanocrystalline tin oxide (SnO2) powders have been synthesized by a low temperature chemical precipitation method. As-prepared and heated powders were characterized by XRD, SEM and luminescence studies. Crystallographic parameters such as crystallite size, lattice parameters and dislocation density in SnO2 nanocrystalline powders were calculated by Rietveld analysis. The average crystallite size of 9 - 43 nm was obtained for SnO2 powders through controlled heat treatment process. The washed powders morphology was almost spherical in shape and average agglomerate crystal size was between 0.2 – 0.4 μm. A Photoluminescence (PL) study was measured at an excitation wavelength of 265 nm for as-prepared and annealed powders; it showed a broad emission peak at 417 nm for all powders. The highest PL emission was attained for the powder annealed at 500℃. The synthesized nanocrystalline SnO2 oxide semiconductor material could be suitable for making optoelectronic and sensor devices.