Morphologically controlled synthesis, structural and optical properties of CeO2/SnO2 nanocomposites

Abstract

CeO2/SnO2 nanocomposites with different dimensional nanostructures were synthesized by a wet chemical method, using various surfactants such as SDS, CTAB and Triton X-100. The prepared CeO2/SnO2 samples were analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), UV-Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy (UV-DRS), and Photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. The XRD patterns reveal the presence of a mixed phase of SnO2 and CeO2; The TEM analysis showed the mixed morphology of uniformly dispersed spherical with ellipsoidal shape in the SDS assisted CeO2/SnO2 nanocomposites; whereas the nanostructure with spherical with hexagonal shapes was observed for the Triton X-100 assisted CeO2/SnO2 nanocomposites. The one dimensional (1D) nanorod like structure observed for the CTAB assisted CeO2/SnO2 nanocomposites shows CTAB acting as a face-specific capping agent to form rod-shaped micelles. The room temperature photoluminescence emission studies of the CeO2/SnO2 nanocomposites showed strong peaks in the UV region, and several peaks in the visible region, which are likely to have originated from the oxygen vacancies and are potential materials for optoelectronic device applications. The UV results showed the absorption edges shifted to a high energy region and the blue shifts that occurred in all the samples.

Keywords

• CeO2/SnO2
• Surfactants
• Mixed morphology
• Nanorods
• Optical properties