Microstructural, Optical and Dielectric Properties of Al-Incorporated SnO₂ Nanoparticles

In this work, Pure SnO₂ and Al doped SnO₂ nanoparticles with the composition Sn_1-xAl_xO₂ (x = 0, and 0.05) have been successfully prepared using sol-gel technique. The effect of Al dopant on microstructural, optical and dielectric properties has been investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Ultraviolet (UV-Visible) absorption spectroscopy andImpedance spectroscopy (LCR meter)respectively. The XRD patterns indicated tetragonal rutile structure with single phase without any detectable impurity for all samples and incorporation of Al ions into the SnO₂ lattice. Crystalline size decreased with aluminum content. The results of SEM confirm nanoparticles size decreases with Al dopant. UV-Visible results showed that optical band also decreases when Al is doped into pure SnO₂ lattice. Frequency dependent dielectric properties of pure and doped SnO₂ nanoparticles have been also studied.