Structures and UV resistance of Ag/SnO2 nanocomposite materials synthesized by horizontal vapor phase growth for coating applications

The structures and UV resistance of Ag/SnO2 nanocomposite materials was observed in this study for coating applications. Horizontal Vapor Phase Growth (HVPG) was used to synthesize the Ag/SnO2 nanocomposite materials. The ratio between Ag and SnO2 was fixed with stoichiometric mixtures of 0:5, 1:4, 2:3, 3:2, 4:1, and 5:0. Scanning electron microscope–energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM–EDX) was used to evaluate the morphology of the materials. The results were then compared with Density Functional Theory (DFT) analysis. Computational DFT analysis of the SnO2 (110) and Ag (111) cells have verified nanorods formation of the composite material. Moreover, DFT results of Ag/SnO2 confirmed the UV blocking properties from their computed electrical bandgap energies of the range from 2.72 to 4.84 eV. The highest UV absorbance of nanocomposite was observed for 1:4 Ag/SnO2 stoichiometric ratio with 8.09 A. The study shows that the ration of SnO2 over Ag increases, the absorbance increases as well.