The effect of solvent on the structural, morphological, optical and dielectric properties of SnO2 nanostructures

• Published in: Physica. E, Low-dimensional systems & nanostructures Low-dimensional systems & nanostructures, 2025-01, Vol.165, p.116095, Article 116095
• Main Authors: Ihsan, Shah, Zulfiqar, Syed, Khattak, Shaukat Ali, Albargi, Hasan B., Khan, Arshad, Rooh, Gul, Khan, Tahirzeb, Khan, Gulzar, Ullah, Irfan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Dielectric properties; Hydrothermal methods; Nanostructures; Structural properties; Tin oxide
• ISSN: 1386-9477
• DOI: 10.1016/j.physe.2024.116095

We investigate the effect of solvent, i.e., ethanol and deionized (DI) water, on the structural, optical, and dielectric characteristics of SnO2 nanostructures, synthesized via the hydrothermal method. Utilizing X-ray diffraction (XRD), we find the rutile phase for both nanostructures with average crystallite sizes of 12.53 nm and 6.62 nm for the samples synthesized using ethanol and DI water as solvents, respectively. The energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) confirms the presence of Sn and O elements in both samples. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) reveals that the samples prepared using ethanol and DI water exhibit nanorods and nanoflowers structures, respectively. The calculated band gap for SnO2 based on ethanol and DI water solvents is found to be 3.54 eV and 3.45 eV, respectively. The SnO2 nanostructure prepared by ethanol solvent demonstrates a higher dielectric constant which is attributed to higher defect density and more grain boundaries in it than in the sample synthesized using DI water. At low frequencies, the high tanδ values in the case of both nanostructures are explained based on space-charge polarization (SPC). The SnO2 prepared by DI water exhibits higher tangent loss than the one synthesized using ethanol because of its significant surface area. The significant amount of conducting grains in the SnO2 nanostructure while using ethanol solvent makes it a better conductive. Furthermore, the dielectric constant increases with increasing temperature which suggests considerable changes in the polarization behavior, while the tangent loss and conductivity demonstrate dependency on the temperature, indicating the promise of the nanostructures for electrical applications. •The impact of solvents on SnO2 nanostructures' properties.•Rutile phase of both nanostructures.•Nanorods for ethanol and nanoflowers for DI water synthesis.•Higher dielectric constant and conductivity for ethanol SnO2, promising for electrical applications.