The Effect of Precursor Concentration on the Particle Size, Crystal Size, and Optical Energy Gap of CexSn1-xO2 Nanofabrication

Naif Mohammed Al-Hada; Rafiziana Md Kasmani; Hairoladenan Kasim; Abbas M Al-Ghaili; Muneer Aziz Saleh; Essam M Banoqitah; Abdulsalam M Alhawsawi; Anwar Ali Baqer; Jian Liu; Shicai Xu; Qiang Li; Azlan Muhammad Noorazlan; Abdullah A A Ahmed; Moayad Husein Flaifel; Suriati Paiman; Nazirul Nazrin; Bandar Ali Al-Asbahi; Jihua Wang

doi:10.3390/nano11082143

The Effect of Precursor Concentration on the Particle Size, Crystal Size, and Optical Energy Gap of Ce_xSn_1-xO₂ Nanofabrication

Nanomaterials (Basel). 2021 Aug 22;11(8):2143. doi: 10.3390/nano11082143.

Authors

Naif Mohammed Al-Hada^{1

2

3}, Rafiziana Md Kasmani², Hairoladenan Kasim⁴, Abbas M Al-Ghaili⁵, Muneer Aziz Saleh², Essam M Banoqitah⁶, Abdulsalam M Alhawsawi^{6

7}, Anwar Ali Baqer⁸, Jian Liu¹, Shicai Xu¹, Qiang Li¹, Azlan Muhammad Noorazlan⁹, Abdullah A A Ahmed^{3

10}, Moayad Husein Flaifel^{11

12}, Suriati Paiman¹³, Nazirul Nazrin¹³, Bandar Ali Al-Asbahi¹⁴, Jihua Wang¹

Affiliations

¹ Shandong Key Laboratory of Biophysics, Institute of Biophysics, Dezhou University, Dezhou 253023, China.
² School of Chemical and Energy Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai, Johor Bahru 81310, Malaysia.
³ Department of Physics, Faculty of Applied Science, Thamar University, Dhamar 87246, Yemen.
⁴ College of Computing & Informatics (CCI), Universiti Tenaga Nasional (UNITEN), Kajang 43000, Malaysia.
⁵ Institute of Informatics and Computing in Energy (IICE), Universiti Tenaga Nasional (UNITEN), Kajang 43000, Malaysia.
⁶ Department of Nuclear Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, K. A. CARE Energy Research and Innovation Center, King Abdulaziz University, P.O. Box 80204, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia.
⁷ Center for Training & Radiation Prevention, King Abdulaziz University, P.O. Box 80204, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia.
⁸ Department of Physics, Faculty of Science for Women, University of Baghdad, Baghdad 10071, Iraq.
⁹ Physics Department, Faculty of Science and Mathematics, University Pendidikan Sultan Idris, Tanjong Malim 35900, Malaysia.
¹⁰ Fachbereich Physik, Center for Hybrid Nanostructures (CHyN), Universität Hamburg, 20146 Hamburg, Germany.
¹¹ Department of Physics, College of Science, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, P.O. Box 1982, Dammam 31441, Saudi Arabia.
¹² Basic and Applied Scientific Research Center, College of Science, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, P.O. Box 1982, Dammam 31441, Saudi Arabia.
¹³ Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University Putra Malaysia, Serdang 43400, Malaysia.
¹⁴ Department of Physics & Astronomy, College of Science, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2455, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

In the present work, a thermal treatment technique is applied for the synthesis of Ce_xSn_1-xO₂ nanoparticles. Using this method has developed understanding of how lower and higher precursor values affect the morphology, structure, and optical properties of Ce_xSn_1-xO₂ nanoparticles. Ce_xSn_1-xO₂ nanoparticle synthesis involves a reaction between cerium and tin sources, namely, cerium nitrate hexahydrate and tin (II) chloride dihydrate, respectively, and the capping agent, polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP). The findings indicate that lower x values yield smaller particle size with a higher energy band gap, while higher x values yield a larger particle size with a smaller energy band gap. Thus, products with lower x values may be suitable for antibacterial activity applications as smaller particles can diffuse through the cell wall faster, while products with higher x values may be suitable for solar cell energy applications as more electrons can be generated at larger particle sizes. The synthesized samples were profiled via a number of methods, such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). As revealed by the XRD pattern analysis, the Ce_xSn_1-xO₂ nanoparticles formed after calcination reflect the cubic fluorite structure and cassiterite-type tetragonal structure of Ce_xSn_1-xO₂ nanoparticles. Meanwhile, using FT-IR analysis, Ce-O and Sn-O were confirmed as the primary bonds of ready Ce_xSn_1-xO₂ nanoparticle samples, whilst TEM analysis highlighted that the average particle size was in the range 6-21 nm as the precursor concentration (Ce(NO₃)₃·6H₂O) increased from 0.00 to 1.00. Moreover, the diffuse UV-visible reflectance spectra used to determine the optical band gap based on the Kubelka-Munk equation showed that an increase in x value has caused a decrease in the energy band gap and vice versa.

Keywords: CexSn1−xO2 nanoparticles; energy band gap; polyvinylpyrrolidone; thermal treatment technique.