Gas‐Sensing Properties of Needle‐Shaped Ni‐Doped SnO2 Nanocrystals Prepared by a Simple Sol–Gel Chemical Precipitation Method |
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| Authors: | Rajeswari Yogamalar Vellusamy Mahendran Ramasamy Srinivasan Dr. Ali Beitollahi R. Pradeep Kumar Dr. Arumugam Chandra Bose Dr. Ajayan Vinu |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Department of Physics, National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli‐620 015 (India), Fax: (+91)?431‐2500133;2. Iran University of Science and Technology, School of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering, Narmak, Tehran, 16846‐13114 (Iran);3. International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics, World Premier International (WPI) Research Initiative, National Institute for Materials Science, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305‐0044 (Japan), Fax: (+91)?29‐860‐4706 |
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| Abstract: | The preparation of needle‐shaped SnO2 nanocrystals doped with different concentration of nickel by a simple sol–gel chemical precipitation method is demonstrated. By varying the Ni‐dopant concentration from 0 to 5 wt %, the phase purity and morphology of the SnO2 nanocrystals are significantly changed. Powder XRD results reveal that the SnO2 doped with a nickel concentration of up to 1 wt % shows a single crystalline tetragonal rutile phase, whereas a slight change in the crystallite structure is observed for samples with nickel above 1 wt %. High resolution scanning electron microscopy (HRSEM) results reveal the change in morphology of the materials from spherical, for SnO2, to very fine needle‐like nanocrystals, for Ni‐doped SnO2, annealed at different temperatures. The gas sensing properties of the SnO2 nanocrystals are significantly enhanced after the nickel doping. |
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| Keywords: | doping nanoparticles nickel sensors sol– gel processes |
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