Photocatalytic and Sensing Applications of Tin Oxide Nanostructures

In the present book, the change of photo-physical and photo-chemical properties of semiconductors with changing morphology from nano-flowers (3D) to quantum dots (0D) have been discussed. The effect of various solvents and dopants on crystallographic, morphological and optical behavior of SnO2 nanostructures have been successfully explored. Transition and rare earth elements like Nickel, Terbium, Praseodymium and Europium with variable concentrations have been tried to control the morphology of nanostructures. Moreover, photocatalytic and sensing applications of these synthesized products has been thoroughly investigated. Crystallographic studies reveal that all the synthesized nanomaterials exhibits tetragonal rutile structure. The electron microscopy studies reveal the formation of SnO2 nanoparticles synthesized in different solvents, whereas quantum dot morphology of SnO2 has been observed in the case of OA capped Sn1-xNixO2 (0<x<0.1). Also, change in morphology from nanorods assembled 3D flower-like SnO2 to different morphologies like nanorods, nanosheets etc has been observed by changing the dopants (Tb, Pr, Eu) and by varying the doping concentration from 1 to 10 mol%.