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Synthesis and Characterizations of SnO2 Nanoparticles

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 Copyright © 2013 American Scientific Publishers Journal of
All rights reserved Nanoelectronics and Optoelectronics
Printed in the United States of America Vol. 8, 1–8, 2013

Synthesis and Characterizations of SnO2 Nanoparticles

A. Ayeshamariam1 ∗ , V. S. Vidhya2 , S. Sivaranjani3 , M. Bououdina4 5 ,
R. PerumalSamy6 , and M. Jayachandran7
1
Department of Physics, Khadir Mohideen College, Adirampattinam 614701, India
2
Department of Chemistry, Chendhuran College of Engineering and Technology, Pudukottai 622507, India
3
Department of Physics, SBM College of Engineering and Technology, Dindigul 624005, India
4
Nanotechnology Centre, University of Bahrain, Kingdom of Bahrain
5
Department of Physics, College of Science, University of Bahrain, Kingdom of Bahrain
6
Department of Physics, Sir Theagaraya College Higher Secondary School, Chennai 600021, India
7
Electro Chemical Material Science Division, (CSIR) CECRI, Karaikudi 630003, India

SnO2 powder particles have been studied intensively as one of the best gas sensing materials
because they exhibit very good sensitivity, selectivity and reproducibility due to their nano-grained
microstructure, larger specific area and the presence of oxygen vacancies in the lattice. With the
aim to produce nanocrystalline oxide powders through a simple and inexpensive route, the sol–gel
combustion process has been selected to prepare SnO2 powder in the present study. The prepared
powders were characterized for their structural, morphological, electrical and gas sensor properties
for ethanol. Crystal density, lattice volume and microstrain are found to be nearly constant with
annealing temperature, which confirm the formation of monophase SnO2 . Spherical particles in the
nanoscale level, with the size increasing with temperature are observed from XRD result. Sen-
sor studies show high resistance of SnO2 pellets, which can be changed under different gaseous
atmospheres and becoming a good candidate for gas sensing application.

RESEARCH ARTICLE
Keywords: XRD, TG-DSC, XPS, Sensing Properties.

1. INTRODUCTION fine particles of metal oxides usually exhibit high sensitiv-

Research in the area of nanoscale materials is motivated by
the possibility of processing and designing nanostructured
materials with unique properties thereby offering new and
important technological applications. Due to their finite
small size and high surface-to-volume ratio, nanostruc-
tred materials often exhibit novel, and sometimes unusual
properties.1 Tin dioxide (SnO2 ) is an important oxide
semiconductor material, which has been widely used in
many applications such as catalysts agent,2 3 hazardous gas
sensors,4 5 heat reflecting mirrors,6 7 varistors,8 9 transpar-
ent conducting electrodes for solar cells,10 11 and optoelec-
tronic devices.12 Tin dioxide-based gas sensor devices are
very important in developing n-type semiconductor sen-
sors, which can be utilized to detect various inflammable
and harmful gases such as hydrogen (H2 , carbon monox-
ide (CO), ethanol and methanol. Semiconductor sensors
exhibit changes in electrical resistivity in the presence of
small concentrations of certain gases. Sensors consisting of
∗
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
ity compared to their counterparts made of larger particles.
The most important factor affecting the sensitivity of gas
sensors is the actual crystallite size of the sensing mate-
rials. Hence, semiconductor based sensors should have
fine crystallites to achieve high sensitivities.5 Tin dioxide
powders used for gas sensors have been synthesized via
various routes such as direct strike precipitation,13 14 two-
step solid state synthesis,15 microemulsion,16 sol–gel,17
spray pyrolysis,18 gel combustion technique,19 hydrother-
mal synthesis,20 etc. Among the above methods, conven-
tionally accepted method is the synthesis of tin dioxide
particles from precursor hydroxides precipitated by the
direct addition of NH4 OH to SnCl4 aqueous solutions.
Although, this technique yields a large amount of powder
instantaneously and at a reasonable cost, it is not easy to
obtain powders with high surface area because of the irreg-
ular particle morphology, large particle size distribution
and the high degree of agglomeration.13 14 Those problems
arise due to the non-uniform supersaturation in solution.
Franklin Cabrera et al., reported that the addition of 3%
Sn produces an important reduction of the amount of oxi-
dized chromium and that the amount of deposited coke

J. Nanoelectron. Optoelectron. 2013, Vol. 8, No. 3 1555-130X/2013/8/1/008 doi:10.1166/jno.2013.1471 1

 Synthesis and Characterizations of SnO2 Nanoparticles
improves the catalytic stability but diminish the activity. In
all cases, the addition of tin improves the initial selectiv-
ity of the catalysts.21 Jean-Marie Herrmann et al. prepared
and characterized Mo–Sn–O systems by Raman spec-
troscopy and electrical conductivity measurements. The
authors found that four-coordinated species are dispersed
at the external surface while six-coordinated species are
occluded through coalescence of molybdate layers.22 Vitor
Baranauskas et al., reported that the conductivity of tin
oxide films deposited by spray pyrolysis method increases
with the increase of the deposition temperature due to the
increase in the granular coalescence and thermal decom-
position of tin hydroxides.23 Min-Sik Part et al., reported
the electrochemical performances of 1D SnO2 nanomate-
rials, (nanotubes, nanowires, and nanopowders) afterward
compared to define the most favorable morphology when
SnO2 nanomaterials are adopted as an electrode material
for lithium-ion batteries. Changes in the morphology of
SnO2 are closely related with its electrochemical perfor-
mance. Some SnO2 nanomaterials features do not only
induce an increase in the energy density but also enhanced
Li+ transfer. The correlation between the morphologi-
cal characteristics and the electrochemical properties of
SnO2 nanomaterials was discussed. The interesting elec-
trochemical results obtained on SnO2 nanomaterials indi-
cate the possibility of designing and fabricating attractive
new nanostructured materials for lithium-ion batteries.24 In
this article, we report the synthesis of tin oxide nanopar-
RESEARCH ARTICLE
ticles by a novel sol–gel combustion technique from tin
nitrate. The starting materials are very cheap and the syn-
thesis procedure is simple, and the obtained SnO2 particles
are in the nanometer scale and mono-dispersed with very
high surface area. This should be a better choice instead of
the sol–gel method from tin alkoxides. The particles have
been characterized by means of XRD, TG-DSC, XPS,
SEM and EDAX, TEM, electrical properties and sensing
performances.
2. EXPERIMENTAL PART
2.1. Preparation of SnO2
Nanocrystalline SnO2 powders were prepared by com-
bustion process. Nitric acid was used in order to intro-
duce nitrate oxidizing ions, while urea was chosen as
fuel. Aqueous solutions of pure metallic Sn (Mallinck-
rodt) turnings dissolved in nitric acid (70%, Merck) and
stoichiometric ratio of fuel urea (Merck) and deionized
water were prepared with the ratio 1:10. The solutions
were heated under constant stirring at a temperature of
about 90–100  C in a Pyrex vessel and concentrated slowly
without producing any precipitation until it turned into a
white and viscous gel. The portions of the gels were heated
at temperatures of about 350  C, which suffered a strong
self–propagating combustion reaction with the evolution
2 J. Nanoelectron. Optoelectron. 8, 1–8, 2013
Ayeshamariam et al.
of a large volume of gases. The entire combustion pro-
cess was over after a few seconds. The resulting white
ashes were then calcined at temperatures in the range 100
to 800  C for 1 hour in order to eliminate the carbona-
ceous residues. The selection of the tin to fuel ratio and
the ignition and calcination temperature were discussed.25
When using the combustion route to obtain precursors,
urea was used as combustible agent. It is also worthwhile
to mention that this process uses an exothermic and usu-
ally very rapid chemical reaction to form the final reac-
tion products. In addition, the reactant’s proportions can
be tuned in order to have a non violent reaction. Moreover,
non toxic gases (CO2 , H2 O and N2  are produced. Accord-
ing to Cooper et al.,26 we can define oxygen balance (OB)
of the reaction, as defined in the field of propellants and
explosives as follow:
AWoxygen
OB % = 100 × 2 (1)
F Wmixture O2
where AW and F W are respectively the atomic weight of
oxygen and the formula weight of the mixture, O2 is the
molar number of oxygen.
According to the principle of propellant chemistry, for
a stoichiometric combustion reaction between a fuel and
an oxidizer, the ratio of the net oxidizing valency of the
metal nitrate to the net reducing valency of the fuel should
be unity. The total oxidizing valency of Sn(NO3 2 · 2H2 O
works out to be −8. Urea (N2 H4 CO) was taken as a fuel,
which contains one carboxylic and four hydroxyl group
for coordinating the metal ions, which facilitate the for-
mation of a viscous gel. The total reducing valency of
urea works out to be +6. Hence in order to have the
stoichiometric combustion reaction, one mole of indium
nitrate needs 8/6 (or 1.333) mol of urea. This ratio of
oxidant: fuel (1:1.33) gives a satisfactory viscous gel to
initiate combustion. Since oxidant-fuel composition was
optimum, sluggish decomposition was not possible and
therefore the reaction not leftover carbonaceous material
in the as-prepared powder. These observations are in good
agreement with those reported in the literature.27 The fur-
ther fuel-rich ratios were not suitable due to a sluggish and
incomplete combustion.
2.2. Experimental Setup for Sensor Data Collection
The gas sensing chamber, used for gas sensitivity analy-
sis of the prepared SnO2 powders consists of a steel base
with three port holes at the base for inletting of more than
one gas at the same time. This helps us to generate the
exact gaseous mixing ambient conditions inside the cham-
ber. Above the steel base there is a raised sample holder
made of copper which is placed over a heating coil to
increase the temperature of the sample. The sample placed
above the sample holder is connected by two probes which
are further connected in series with a programmable D.C.
Ayeshamariam et al. Synthesis and Characterizations of SnO2 Nanoparticles

power supply and a digital multimeter. The thermocouple Tin oxide powder
as shown in the diagram keeps track of the rise in tem-

110
Relative Intensity (a.u)
200 SnO2 Powder

110 101

101
150

211
200
100

perature of the sensing material (though not required in 211 800º

220

301
310
50

200 0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

the present study as it was done at room temperature).

2 Theta

The whole system is covered by a glass chamber fitted 700º

with rubber tube at its base to ensure complete vacuum in

the chamber through suction by a high capacity vacuum 600º

pump. The chamber and the electrical measuring systems

500º
are well developed for controlled variations of the inner
atmospheric temperature and pressure for controlled gas
400º
sensing analysis and the resistance variations.
The tin oxide (SnO2  is a well-known as n-type semi- 300º
conducting oxide that has been widely used for reducing
gases in an operating temperature range of 273–443 K. 200º
This oxide material has high reactivity towards reducing
gases at relatively low operating temperature, easy ad- 100º

sorption of oxygen on its surface because of its natural

Asprepared
non-stoichiometry, stable phase and many more desirable
attributes such as cheapness and simplicity. For monolayer
Bulk
coverage the C–O bond cleavage process was favored. This
appears to be in contradiction to the experimental results
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
discussed above where ethoxide and acetaldehyde produc-
2 Theta
tion was observed.
Fig. 1. XRD patterns of SnO2 nanopowders.
2.3. Characterizations Techniques
again confirmed from the non-symmetric line shape around
Phase identification and crystallite size determination were
2 = 20 and 80 regions of the XRD pattern. In the 2 =
carried out using PANalytical X’Pert X-ray diffractometer
343 region, the non-symmetrical line shape originated
(CuK target,  = 15418 Å). XRD data were collected in

the 2 range of 20–80 using step scan mode with step
width of 0.02 and step time 2.40 s. Appreciable inten-
sity could be obtained with this step width, which was
found to be suitable for getting the satisfactory profile
shape. Chemical state analysis was conducted using X-ray
photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) using a Multilab-2000
spectrometer using a monochromic Mg-K X-ray source
(1256 eV) with analyzer pass energy of 10 eV. Sensor
analysis was carried out by the set-up constructed using a
vacuum coating unit, temperature controlled and Keithley
2000 multifunction meter.
3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
3.1. Structural Characterization of SnO2
The crystallinity of the sample is clearly evident by the
dhkl values are very small in the order of 10−3 nm.
sharper diffraction peaks at respective diffraction angles
which can be readily indexed for its rutile tetragonal struc-
ture of the as-prepared SnO2 powder, as given in Figure 1.
The obtained rutile phase is comparable with the standard
JCPDS data (Card No. 88-0287). The sample exhibited
only the tetragonal phase and the major peaks appear at
dhkl /ds . If d0 > ds , then the micros-
2 = 269 , 34.3 , 38.9 , 52.1 , 62.1 and 65.8 . It is fur-
ther observed that there is no indication of the presence
of both low temperature monoclinic or high temperature
cubic phases. Evidence of the cubic symmetry might be
RESEARCH ARTICLE
from broadening of peak 101 and the crystallite size of
14 nm was determined. Similarly, non-symmetrical peaks
can be detected at 2 = 621 and 65.8 and indexed as
(310) and (301) respectively and the decrease of broaden-
ing indicated the growth of the crystallite size from min-
imum to maximum value, but average crystallite size is
around 15 nm for the as-prepared powder.
All of the observed peaks in the XRD pattern in Figure 1
are indexed assuming SnO2 phase, giving all peaks posi-
tions, Miller indices, interplanar distances (observed and
standard) their deviations and the microstrain on the
grains. The microstrain is developed on the grains and
within the grains that can be visualized from the line shift-
ing in the XRD spectra.
It can be seen that the observed d-spacing of the diffrac-
tion planes are very close to the standard values and there-
fore
The deviation in the d-spacing is the measure of line shift-
ing which gives the value of microstrain  in the nanopow-
der sample. If d0 is the observed d-spacing of the prepared
sample and ds is the spacing in the standard sample, the
microstrain in the particles in the direction normal to the
diffraction plane is
train is positive which indicates that the residual stress is
tensile and if d0 < ds , the microstrain is negative indicating
generation of residual compressive stress in the surface.
For the present study, the calculated microstrain in most

J. Nanoelectron. Optoelectron. 8, 1–8, 2013 3

 Synthesis and Characterizations of SnO2 Nanoparticles Ayeshamariam et al.

planes is positive, indicating the presence of tensile stress Table II. Crystallite and particle size of nanocrystalline SnO2 powders.
on the surface of the particles. 094 6
The micro strain is proportional to the lattice distortion. SnO2 D= (nm) a (Å) c (Å) S= m2 /g
 cos D

1 h2 + k 2 l 2 Asprepared 15.573 4.758 3.202 56318

= + 2 (2) 100  C 16.588 4.759 3.182 56260
d a2 c 200  C 18.154 4.750 3.176 564305
The observed negative values of microstrain for the planes 300  C 18.979 4.746 3.176 56295
400  C 19.290 4.745 3.176 61755
may be due to induced error in the measurement of the 2 500  C 20.331 4.758 3.169 50256
value, since the respective peaks are non symmetrical. The 600  C 21.313 4.759 3.170 44815
high-angle region of XRD pattern of the as-synthesized 700  C 21.873 4.752 3.171 393199
powder was used to determine the lattice parameters ‘a’ 800  C 22.224 4.750 3.170 33881
and ‘c’ of the tetragonal phase, using the Eq. (2).27 By
using this equation, we calculated the values of lattice
parameter which well matches with JCPDS file no (Card 3.2. DTA/TGA Analysis of SnO2
No. 88-0287) a = 4737 Å and c = 3186 Å, see Table I. TG measurements were carried out by taking 3.4580 mg of
The specific surface area of as-prepared powdered par- as-prepared SnO2 in a quartz pan to minimize the effects
ticle is 56.318 m2 /g and annealed at 800  C is equal to during decomposition of the sample. The heating program
33.881 m2 /g, by increasing temperature reduces the spe- was between 30 and 1100  C and the heating rate was
cific surface area shown in Table II. 20  C/min in air, and the purge gas employed was nitro-
The above values are again verified using cell refine- gen at a flow of 45 ml/min. It is observed (Fig. 2) that
ment software for the same tetragonal structure by consid- only 13.4% weight loss is noticed in the entire decomposi-
ering all the indexed peaks. The obtained values for the tion programme and the weight loss is due to the removal
lattice parameters a = 4737 Å and c = 3186 Å are consis- of chemisorbed water molecules during exposure of the
tent with the standard JCPDS card No. 88-0287. Similarly, sample to the air atmosphere. In support of TGA, simulta-
the refined cell constant exactly matches with the standard neous DTA was recorded in the same temperature range to
value and is also in agreement with the reported values. confirm the decomposition steps (Fig. 2). Chemisorptions
The unit cell volume of a tetragonal lattice is given by the of adsorbed species or a chemical decomposition is an
Eq. (3) endothermic process. It occurs by absorbing heat to raise
RESEARCH ARTICLE

V = a2 ∗ c = 714996 Å3 (3)
The calculated and refined values of unit cell volume of
the crystal system, also matches well with the standard
values.
The value of the density also stabilized above 400  C,
though the crystallite size is found to increase with increas-
ing annealing temperature. The XRD from as-prepared
to 800  C are shown in Figure 1. Moreover, from the
observed space group (P42 /mnm) (136) and the reported
data,28 it is assumed that cations are located in the 8e
positions (0.75, 0.25, 0.75) and the anions are located in
the 16 h positions (0.25, 0.25, 0.3055) for the as-prepared
and 3c and 3d for the powder heated at 800  C. From
Table III, it can be observed that the cell mass stabilized
after 300  C.
the enthalpy of the system to a critical limit of its ther-
modynamic stability before it dissociates. This is reflected
in the DTA curve and however, there are no noticeable
exothermic and endothermic peaks which are visible in
the recorded temperature range. It confirms the purity of
the as-prepared SnO2 powder which is free from all other
added organic and inorganic precursors during the time of
combustion synthesis of the product. Moreover, the prod-
uct is free from coordinated water molecules (SnO2 ·nH2 O)
and its hydroxide linkage [Sn4 (OH)2 · nH2 O].29
Present TGA results predicts only 13.4% of weight loss,
which is in contradiction to both the reported theories that
confirms the absence of both Sn4 (OH)2 · nH2 O and SnO2 ·
nH2 O in the processed SnO2 compound.30 The observed
weight loss of about 13.4% is therefore assigned to the

Table I. Interplanar dhkl spacing and microstrain of SnO2 nanopowders.

Interplanar distance (dhkl ) (Å)

Peak Deviation in MicroStrain

dhkl
position (2 ) (hkl) Obs (d0 ) Std (ds ) dhkl = d0 − ds (Å) =
ds
26.9877 110 3.349 3.301 0.048 0.014
34.3913 101 2.643 2.627 0.015 0.006
38.3913 200 2.368 2.342 0.025 0.011
52.1348 211 1.764 1.752 0.011 0.006
62.1419 310 1.498 1.492 0.005 0.003
65.8945 301 1.414 1.416 −0.001 −0.001

4 J. Nanoelectron. Optoelectron. 8, 1–8, 2013

Ayeshamariam et al. Synthesis and Characterizations of SnO2 Nanoparticles

Table III. Refined parameters of the as-prepared SnO2 nanopowders.

RT 100  C 200  C 300  C 400  C 500  C 600  C 700  C 800  C

a (Å) 47505 47446 4746 4744 47446 47409 47397 47408 47398
c (Å) 31917 31865 3196 3189 31896 31886 31865 31891 31876
Crystallite size (nm) 103 94 108 133 190 308 320 410 499
Cell mass (g) 258943 264887 280211 280522 280522 280522 280522 280522 280522
Cell volume (Å3 ) 720243 71732 71988 71788 71802 7167 7158 71677 71611
Crystal density (g/cm3  5970 6132 6464 6489 6488 6500 6507 6499 6505
R-Bragg 2686 2690 3134 5042 8267 6411 5619 6483 6857
Rwp 1630 1633 1656 1713 1806 2869 1668 1692 1702
Goodnss of fit (GOF) 101 104 105 113 112 187 103 108 108

RESEARCH ARTICLE
Fig. 2. DTA/TG analysis of as-prepared SnO2 nanopowder.

stray moisture atoms chemisorbed on the surface of the observation of only the above peaks, not additional peaks
powder sample. Thermal study thus confirms the purity that can be attributed to other species such as Sn2+ or
of the as-prepared material which also corroborates the O−1 , confirms the formation of monophase SnO2 powder
results of x-ray diffraction measurements. prepared in the present study.

3.3. XPS Analysis 3.4. Sensing Mechanism in SnO2

Figure 3(a) shows the XPS wide scan spectra of the as-
prepared SnO2 powder. It shows the presence of Sn 3d and
O 1s peaks confirming the formation of SnO2 film with
Sn4+ and O2− states. Figures 3(b) and (c) show the narrow
scan spectra of Sn 3d and O 1s present in SnO2 , which
helps in fixing their binding energy and elemental state
uniquely. From Figure 3(b) the binding energy of Sn 3d5/2
is observed at 489.05 eV which confirms the presence of
Sn4+ bonding state the SnO2 lattice. The O 1s peak is
located at 529.14 eV (Fig. 3(c)), which is assigned to the
O2− bonding state of oxygen within the SnO2 lattice. The
It is well known that the resistance of SnO2 changes
according to various reducing gas environments. In air
atmosphere, oxygen is adsorbed onto SnO2 surface by cap-
turing electrons from the conduction band and remains
as O− −
2 , O or O
2−
ions until they are desorbed at higher
temperature. These adsorbed oxygen species induce a sub-
sequent potential barrier at the grain boundaries and a
resistive depletion layer is formed, which determines most
of the sensor resistance. When a flammable gas is intro-
duced, the adsorbed oxygen is removed by oxidation of
the gas and the captured electrons are injected into the

J. Nanoelectron. Optoelectron. 8, 1–8, 2013 5

 Synthesis and Characterizations of SnO2 Nanoparticles Ayeshamariam et al.

(a) 1.0 ×106 enhanced performance, it is desired that both the changes
occur effectively.
For an enhanced performance, it is desired that both the

Sn 3d
O 1s
8.0 ×105 changes occur effectively. When the particle size is in the
nano range (10–20 nm), the surface area is enhanced and
Counts/s

consequently the contact with ethanol is increased. This

C 1s
6.0 ×105 reduces the resistance largely. The increase in the value of
Ra is due to the enhanced activation of the chemisorbed
oxygen on the surface of SnO2 powdered particles thereby
4.0 ×105 decreasing the concentration of free charge carriers. The
chemisorbed activity is expected to vary according to the
equations
2.0 ×105
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 T ≤500 k
Binding energy (eV)
O2g → O2abs + e− −−−−→ O2ads
−
(4)
− T>500 k
(b) O2ads + e− −−−−→ 20ads
−
(5)
489.05
497.52
Sn 3d5/2

Sn 3d3/2

The stabilization is achieved when an equilibrium con-

4.50 × 105 centration of adsorbed species is obtained. Figure 4 shows
the variation in the sensor resistance (Rg  under the
Counts/s

presence of ethanol gas concentration from 100 ppm to

500 ppm. Rg is found to decrease continuously with
increasing temperature for both sensors. However the
4.35 × 105 decrease in resistance (Rg  during the interaction with the
sensing gas ethanol concentration was more significant in
comparison to bulk SnO2 particles, thereby indicating the
effectiveness of particles refinement to the nanoscale level.
485 490 495 500 The response time of the sensor is also found to decrease
as seen in Figure 5 with the presence of ethanol gas con-
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Binding energy (eV)

centration. The response time for bulk SnO2 is found to be
(c) 2.70 × 105 in the range 200–300 s whereas with the nanoscale SnO2
529.14
powder prepared in the present study, the response time is
O 1s

2.55 × 105 reduced, i.e., 150–200 s.

In our present study, the characteristics of SnO2 gas sen-
2.40 × 105 sors were studied in an airtight chamber. The relationship
Counts/s

between sensitivity and concentration is found to be linear

2.25 × 105 in the ethanol concentration ranging from 200 to 600 ppm.
It reaches saturation in higher concentrations (>200 ppm)
2.10 × 105

18
1.95 × 105
16
525 530 535 540
14
Binding energy (eV)
12
Sensitivity

Fig. 3. XPS analysis of wide scan and narrow scan mode of asprepared
10
SnO2 .
8

conduction band. This results in a reduction of the poten- 6

tial barrier height and decrease in resistance of the sensor. 4
It was of interest to understand the sensing mechanism
2
that influences the response characteristics of SnO2 sensor.
The observed increase in the sensitivity (Ra /Rg  could be 0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600
related either due to large resistance in air (Ra  and a sub-
Time (sec)
stantial change in resistance in the presence of the ethanol
gas concentration, resulting in low value of Rg . For an Fig. 4. Sensitivity of SnO2 powder to 400 ppm ethanol.

6 J. Nanoelectron. Optoelectron. 8, 1–8, 2013

Ayeshamariam et al. Synthesis and Characterizations of SnO2 Nanoparticles

40000
Therefore, the resistance (Rg  of the as-prepared sensor
structure decreases in the presence of reducing ethanol
35000 concentration.31
30000
Resistance (ohm)

25000
4. CONCLUSION

20000
15000
10000
5000
100 200 300
Ethanol gas concentration (ppm)
Fig. 5. Variation of ethanol gas concentration and resistance with SnO2
particles.
and attains maximum at 400 ppm. The sensitivity increases
with the ethanol concentration, 300 ppm up to 500 ppm,
but decreases after 500 ppm and it is found to be maxi-
mum at 400 ppm irrespective of the ethanol concentration.
The sensor shows moderate response and recovery time
(in minutes) as shown in Figure 6.
The increase in Ra value is dependent on the nature of
the concentration being on the SnO2 powder. The differ-
ence between the work function of ethanol concentration
and SnO2 powder is expected to play a crucial role in
Pure and single phase nanocrystalline SnO2 powder was
successfully synthesized via a simple sol–gel combustion
process using tin nitrate as precursor. The size of parti-
cles can be tuned from 15 to 20 nm by heating at dif-
ferent temperatures. The formation of SnO2 nanograined
powder with rutile tetragonal structure is observed for the
as-prepared and also for 800  C heated powder. Sensing
400 500
characteristics of these powders to ethanol concentration
of 100 ppm–500 ppm were studied. High sensitivity was
observed for 400 ppm in all powders. The sensitivity value
is increasing with particle size reduction. The sensitivity
values reach a maximum of about 18.0 for SnO2 powders.
The response time is about 300 sec only, which can be due
to the nanocrystalline nature of all the powders. Recovery
is also fast due to the large surface area of the prepared
powder.
References and Notes
1. J. Rockenberger, U. Felde, M. Tischer, L. Troger, M. Haase, and
H. Weller, J. Chem. Phys. 112, 4296 (2000).
2. L. Chou, Y. Cai, B. Zhang, J. Niu, S. Ji, and S. Li, Appl. Catal. A:

RESEARCH ARTICLE
defining the resistance, Ra value. The transformation of Gen. 238, 185 (2003).
3. P. T. Wierzchowski and L. W. Zatorski, Appl. Catal. B: Environ.
SnO2 powder resistance with ethanol concentration is due
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Received: xx Xxxx xx. Accepted: xx Xxxx xx.

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