Synthesis and study of structural properties of Sn doped ZnO nanoparticles

Pure and Sn-doped ZnO nanostructures were synthesized by simple chemical solution method. In this method we used zinc nitrate and NaOH as precursors. Sn doping content in ZnO was taken with the ratio 0, 5, 10, 15 and 20 percent by weight. Physical properties of Sn-doped ZnO powder were studied by XRD analysis which revealed that Sn doping had a significant effect on crystalline quality, grain size, intensity, dislocation density and strain. The calculated average grain size of pure ZnO was 21 nm. The best crystalline structure was found for 0 wt.%, 5 wt.% and 10 wt.% Sn doping as observed by FESEM and XRD. However, higher Sn-doping (> 10 wt.%) degraded the crystallinity and the grain size of 27.67 nm to 17.76 nm. The structures observed in FESEM images of the samples surfaces were irregular and non-homogeneous. EDX depicted no extra peak of impurity and confirmed good quality of the samples.