Impact of copper (Cu) and iron (Fe) co-doping on structural, optical, magnetic and electrical properties of tin oxide (SnO2) nanoparticles for optoelectronics applications

In this work, pure SnO 2, Sn 0.96 Cu 0.02 Fe 0.02 O 2 and Sn 0.94 Cu 0.02 Fe 0.04 O 2 nanoparticles (NPs) were synthesized via employing simple Co-precipitation method. The prominent peaks of PXRD pattern show that no extra peaks were observed and expose the tetragonal rutile structure of SnO 2 NPs without any impurity indicating that Cu 2+ and Fe 3+ ions are successfully substituted to Sn 4+ ion. From UV–Vis DRS spectra, the obtained optical band gap of dopant samples was decreased from 3.20 to 2.84 eV due to increases in Cu–Fe co-dopants. The various functional groups present in the synthesized samples are investigated by FTIR studies. PL spectrum shows the broad emission at 364, 410, 496 and 528 nm for all the synthesized samples, and intensity of emission decreases compared with pure SnO 2 NPs. From SEM images, the aggregated shape, distorted sphere-like structure and foam-like porous structure were observed for the pure SnO 2, Sn 0.96 Cu 0.02 Fe 0.02 O 2 and Sn 0.94 Cu 0.02 Fe 0.04 O 2 NPs, respectively. VSM analysis exhibits a maximum saturation magnetization (0.003153) for Sn 0.94 Cu 0.02 Fe 0.04 O 2 NPs. In electrical studies, the resistivity of prepared nanoparticles was measured by impedance spectroscopy analysis. The dopants Cu and Fe influence the size of the samples complements and the increase in the electrical conductivity, which reveals the materials can be a potential candidate for optoelectronic and spintronics fabrication devices.