Influence of Ce3+ Modification on Physicochemical Characteristics of SnO2 Nanoparticles

In the present report, Ce 3+ modified SnO 2 compositions [Sn (1− y ) Ce y O 2 , for y = 0, 0.05, and y = 0.10, where y is wt.% of Ce 3+ ] were synthesized via co-precipitation and their physicochemical properties were investigated. Crystal structure studies were carried out by using Rietveld refinement which confirmed high phase-purity and rutile-type tetragonal crystallinity with a P4 2/ mnm space group (space group no. 136) for all samples. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy depicted the antisymmetric vibrations of Sn-O-Sn and stretching vibration of Sn-O, which were confirmed by bends located at 636 cm −1 , and 460 cm −1 , respectively. All the compositions showed a strong hump at ~ 300 nm in the ultra-violet (UV) region and the peak shifts slightly towards the blue region with increasing Ce 3+ content. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) micrographs depicted pseudospherical particles with an average particle diameter of 12.84 ± 0.17 nm, 15.55 ± 0.31 nm, and 16.52 ± 0.36 nm for y= 0, 0.05, and 0.10, respectively. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) images confirmed tetragonal crystallinity for all the compositions. Dielectric studies illustrated that on increasing the concentration of Ce 3+ in the host SnO 2 , the value of dielectric permittivity increased. The value of tan δ is maximum for pristine SnO 2 . The variation of ac conductivity was due to Maxwell–Wagner type interfacial polarization. For all the compositions, a sharp hump centered at ~ 407 nm was observed in the photoluminescence spectrum, which may be attributed to the presence of oxygen anion vacancies.