Study of the Structural, Optical, and Morphological Properties of SnO2 Nanofilms under the Influence of Gamma Rays

Abstract

This study reports the fabrication of tin oxide (SnO₂) thin films using pulsed laser deposition (PLD). The effect of ⁶⁰Co (300, 900, and 1200 Gy) gamma radiation on the structural, morphological, and optical features is systematically demonstrated using X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and ultraviolet-visible light analysis (UV-Vis), respectively In XRD tests, the size of the crystallites decreased from 45.5 to 40.8 nm for the control samples and from 1200 Gy to 60Co for the irradiated samples. Using FESEM analysis, the particle diameter revealed a similar trend to that attained using XRD; in particular, the average diameters were 93.8 and 79.9 nm for the samples mentioned above. A similar profile was observed for the AFM analysis in which an increase in the radiation dose from 300 to 1200 Gy resulted in a decrease in the RMS values from 74.6 to 32.25 nm. Contrariwise, the calculated optical band gap demonstrated an increasing profile where optical band gaps of 3.08 and 3.18 eV were acquired for control and samples irradiated with 900 Gy. However, the attained optical band gap was further increased to 3.24 eV due to the 60Co gamma radiation increment to 1200 Gy.