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Fabrication of samarium doped SnO2 thin films using facile spray pyrolysis technique for photocatalysis application

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Abstract

Samarium (Sm) doped SnO2 thin films were fabricated onto micro-glass slides using a facile spray pyrolysis technique. The influence of samarium doping concentration (0.25, 0.50, and 1.00 wt%) on the photocatalytic characteristics of SnO2 thin film is investigated using various characterization studies. X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies show that the tin oxide (SnO2) and Sm doped SnO2 thin films possess average crystallite size of 48, 46, 45, and 44 nm corresponding to the tetragonal rutile structure. Micro-Raman spectroscopy analysis confirms the tetragonal phase of SnO2 and Sm doped SnO2 films from the fundamental peaks at 476, 637 and 777 cm−1. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) studies reveal that tin and Sm ions exist in the Sm3+ and Sn4+ oxidation states, respectively. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) studies demonstrate that various Sm concentrations effectively enhance the SnO2 film surface. The composition of SnO2 and Sm doped SnO2 films is analyzed by energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) analysis. The deposited films possess an average transmittance ranging from 64 to 94%. The band edge potential calculation for SnO2 and Sm doped SnO2 thin films indicates the presence of an impurity energy level, which is favourable for visible light performance. Photoluminescence (PL) analysis demonstrates that the prepared thin films have strong emissions at around 493 and 520 nm. The 0.25 wt% Sm doped SnO2 thin film possesses visible light photocatalytic degradation efficiency of 85% against the methylene blue (MB) dye.

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Acknowledgements

The author KA would like to acknowledges the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), Government of India (SERB/F/2586/2013-14). The author KA would like to gratefully acknowledge the National Centre for Photovoltaic Research and Education (NCPRE) at IIT Bombay funded by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Government of India, for providing a major characterization facility for FESEM, XPS measurement. The author RR gratefully acknowledges MOE-RUSA 1.0 physical sciences for departmental financial support.

Funding

The author KA would like to acknowledges the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), Government of India (SERB/F/2586/2013–14). The author RR gratefully acknowledges MOE-RUSA 1.0 (R & I) physical sciences for financial support.

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  1. Crystal Growth and Thin Film Laboratory, Department of Physics, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli, 620 024, Tamil Nadu, India

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Contributions

A. Conceptualization, methodology, software: K. Arjunan.

B. Data Curation, Writing-Original draft preparation: K. Arjunan.

C. Visualization, Investigation: K. Arjunan.

D. Supervision: R. Ramesh Babu.

E. Software, Validation: K. Arjunan.

F. Writing-receiving and editing: K. Arjunan & R. Ramesh Babu.

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Correspondence to R. Ramesh Babu.

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Arjunan, K., Ramesh Babu, R. Fabrication of samarium doped SnO2 thin films using facile spray pyrolysis technique for photocatalysis application. Ionics 30, 491–507 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11581-023-05256-9

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