Investigation of Structural, optical, Dielectric and Magnetic Properties of Sno2 Nanorods and Nanospheres

Abstract We report structural, dielectric, optical and magnetic properties of SnO2 nano-rods and nano-spheres, synthesized by hydrothermal route. X-ray diffraction (XRD) confirms that both SnO2 nanorods and nanospheres have a rutile tetragonal structure with an average crystallite size of 10.8410 ± 1.7832 nm and 16.108 0 ± 3.8384 , respectively. Energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy suggests that both samples, of nanorods and nanospheres, are composed of Sn and O elements. The broader and more intense photoluminescence (PL) peak of the nanorods than that of the nanospheres is due to the presence of a greater number of defects in the former than in the latter. The high dielectric constant in the case of nanorods is due to small size with more grain boundaries and high defect density. The conductivity of spheres is due to the large volume of conducting grains while the conductivity of rods is due to the increased charge density (charges detached from vacancies and conduction charge carriers). Both samples show ferromagnetic behavior, where the saturation magnetization (Ms), remanent magnetization (Mr) and coercivity in SnO2 nanorods are greater than in the spheres. It is due to the presence of a large concentration of oxygen vacancies (defects).