Structural, optical, electrical resistivity and antimicrobial studies of zinc doped tin oxide nanoparticles

Synthesis of pure and Zinc (Zn) doped tin oxide (SnO2) nanoparticles were performed using the co-precipitation technique. X-ray diffraction analysis revealed the tetragonal structure of the synthesised materials. The estimated crystallite sizes of the synthesised pure and doped samples were calculated to be in the range of 22–33 nm. A noticeable shift in absorption edge towards the higher wavelength region is observed due to the increase in dopant concentration. The bandgap energy was found to decrease when the dopant (Zn) concentration is increased. Variation in morphology from agglomeration to highly agglomerated irregular plate-like (flake-like) structure was obtained from scanning electron microscopy analysis. The electrical conductivity from I-V characteristics of pure SnO2 nanoparticle is 0.084 × 10−3 (Ωm)−1, which is high when compared to the zinc (3% and 5%) doped SnO2 nanoparticles. Antibacterial study revealed the potential of SnO2 materials for the inhibition of bacterial growth.