IP: 81.22.46.96 On: Wed, 08 May 2019 04:48:12 Copyright: American Scientific Publishers Delivered by Ingenta Copyright © 2019 American Scientific Publishers All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America Article Journal of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Vol. 19, 7139–7148, 2019 www.aspbs.com/jnn Cu-Doped SnO 2 Nanoparticles: Synthesis and Properties Suresh Sagadevan 1 2 ∗ , Zaira Zaman Chowdhury 1 , Mohd. Rafie Bin Johan 1 , Fauziah Abdul Aziz 3 , L. Selva Roselin 4 , Jiban Podder 5 , J. Anita Lett 6 , and Rosilda Selvin 7 1 Nanotechnology & Catalysis Research Centre, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia 2 Centre for Nanotechnology, AMET University, Chennai 603112, India 3 Department of Physics, National Defence University of Malaysia, 57000, Malaysia 4 Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Arts, King Abdulaziz University, Rabigh Campus, 21911 Rabigh, Saudi Arabia 5 Department of Physics, Bangladesh University of Engineering & Technology, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh 6 Department of Physics, Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai 600119, Tamil Nadu, India 7 Department of Basic Sciences and Humanities, Don Bosco Institute of Technology, Kurla (W), Mumbai 400070, India In this work, a simple, co-precipitation technique was used to prepare un-doped, pure tin oxide (SnO 2 . As synthesized SnO 2 nanoparticles were doped with Cu 2+ ions. Detailed characterization was carried out to observe the crystalline phase, morphological features and chemical constituents with opto-electrical and magnetic properties of the synthesized nanoparticles (NPs). X-ray diffrac- tion analysis showed the existence of crystalline, tetragonal structure of SnO 2 . Both the sample synthesized here showed different crystalline morphology. The band gap energy (E g ) of the syn- thesized sample was estimated and it was found to decrease from 3.60 to 3.26 eV. The band gap energy reduced due to increase in Cu 2+ dopant amount inside the SnO 2 lattice. Optical proper- ties were analyzed using absorption spectra and Photoluminescence (PL) spectra. It was observed that Cu 2+ ions incorporated SnO 2 NPs exhibited more degradation efficiencies for Rhodamine B (RhB) dye compared to un-doped sample under UV-Visible irradiation. The dielectric characteristics of un-doped, pure and Cu 2+ incorporated SnO 2 nanoparticles were studied at different frequency region under different temperatures. The ac conductivity and impedance analysis of pure and Cu 2+ incorporated SnO 2 nanoparticles was also studied. The magnetic properties of the synthesized samples were analysed. Both the sample showed ferromagnetic properties. The research indicated that the Cu 2+ ions doping can make the sample a promising candidate for using in the field of optoelectronics, magneto electronics, and microwave devices. Keywords: Cu Doped SnO 2 Nanoparticles, Structural Study, Optical Study, Photocatalytic Evaluation, Magnetic Properties. 1. INTRODUCTION Recently unique features of diluted magnetic semicon- ductors (DMSs) materials have enabled them to be used in the field of optoelectronics, magneto electronics, and microwave devices. Synthesis of metal oxide nano- structures with tunable particle size, crystallinity and other associated properties is increasing constantly due to their versatile technological applications. 1 The main benefit of using nano metal-oxide particles is that, their character- istics can be easily amended and precisely controlled by adding suitable amount of dopants. Commonly used metal oxide nano materials; such as SnO 2 , ZnO, TiO 2 and WO 3 ∗ Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. are known as transition metal oxide. Their unique physico- chemical properties enable them to be used in optical and electronic devices for upgrading the performance. SnO 2 is a wide band gap (E g = 36 eV) semiconductor mate- rial having n-type conduction band. It has intrinsic band gap defects. Thus it has been extensively used in numer- ous fields. It has been used to synthesize photo-catalyst and oxidation catalyst. 10 For flat panel display unit, it has been incorporated to produce transparent conducting elec- trode. It is also used for fabrication of solar cells and gas sensors. 9 It is known for its’ exceptional optical and electrical properties. It also exhibits excellent mechanical and chemical stability. 2 Importance for the metal oxide nanostructures with tunable size is increasing constantly J. Nanosci. Nanotechnol. 2019, Vol. 19, No. 11 1533-4880/2019/19/7139/010 doi:10.1166/jnn.2019.16666 7139