Transition Metal and Rare-Earth Metal Doping in SnO2 Nanoparticles.

Nanoparticles of tin oxide (SnO2) doped with iron oxide (α-Fe2O3) and Europium oxide (Eu2O3) were synthesized through the solid-state synthesis method. The phase analysis confirms the tetragonal rutile phase for all samples using X-ray diffraction (XRD). The luminescence intensity and expansion of lattice depend on doping percentage, which validates the successful blending of Fe and Eu in SnO2 lattice. The lattice dislocation and strain are calculated using the Williamson–Hall (WH) parcel, which also supports the development of the grain boundary in the doped samples. An increase in a large number of recombination centers leads to quenching in optical spectra by using the photoluminescence (PL) spectrum, and the shift in the band gap estimated from UV–visible absorption spectra confirms the impact of the grain boundary. A vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) under the physical properties measurement system (PPMS) confirms room temperature ferromagnetism RTFM, and a scanning electron microscope (SEM) showed clear images of grain boundaries. Conductivity studies show an increase in resistance to Fe/Eu doping. Among all the tailored samples, Sn(1−x)Fex/EuO2, for x = 0.04 wt. % and 0.02 wt. % proved as a potential candidate for magneto-opto-electronic, i.e., spintronics device applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]