Structural and Morphological Study of Zinc Doped Tin Oxide Nanoparticles Synthesized via Sol-gel Technique

Zn-doped SnO2 nanoparticles were synthesized successfully by Sol-Gel technique with different doping concentration of zinc. The calcined nanoparticles at 400 degrees C, were characterized by means of X-ray diffraction (XRD). XRD analysis reveals that the nanoparticles of various doping concentration are polycrystalline in nature and existed as tetragonal rutile structure. The particle size of the nanoparticles was calculated by Scherrer formula and was found in the range of 7-24 nm. The morphology and nature of nanoparticles was analyzed by using scanning electron microscope (SEM), study of images confirms the existence of very small, spherical and unvaryingly distributed crystalline nanoparticles. Energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis confirms the presence of zinc. The formation of Sn-O phase and hydrous nature of pure and Zn-doped SnO2 nanoparticles were confirmed by FTIR study.