Synthesis and Characterization of Pure and Fluorine Doped Tin-Oxide Nano-Particles by Sol-Gel Methods

Thin films of tin oxide (SnO2) and fluorine doped tin oxide (SnO2F) (FTO) were prepared by sol-gel dip-coating (SGDC route) method by using easily available low cost materials as we use SnCl2, 2H2O and HF. X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectrum showed all the peaks of the crystalline SnO2. The amount of strain was obtained 1.2 x 10-2 and the particle size as ~ 28 nm, indicating the nano-structural nature of the films. FTIR spectroscopy showed strong Sn-O and Sn-O-Sn bonding. UV-Visible spectrophotometric measurement showed high transparency of the films in the visible region and the direct band gap was calculated to be 3.35 eV. Current-voltage (I-V) characteristics of the films were non-linear in nature, which can be explained by the Poole-Frenkel model of thermionic emission.