EXAFS and Raman scattering studies of y and Zr doped nano-crystalline tin oxide

Abstract

Nanocrystals of Y and Zr doped SnO2 have been prepared by sol-gel route and annealed at 200, 400, 600, 800 and 1000 C. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) results showed the average size of the particles in the freshly prepared samples to be ∼ 3 nm. The Extended Absorption Fine Structure (EXAFS) technique was used to study the dopant environments in nanocrystalline tin oxide. In all Y-doped samples, except the one annealed at 1000 C, there is clear evidence that Y has not entered the SnO2 lattice. This is clearly supported by the Raman scattering results. In all Zr-doped samples, there is a simple substitution for Sn by Zr. © 2010 IOP Publishing Ltd.