Copper Ion Beam Irradiation-Induced Effects on Structural, Morphological and Optical Properties of Tin Dioxide Nanowires

The 0.8 MeV copper (Cu) ion beam irradiation-induced effects on structural, morphological and optical properties of tin dioxide nanowires (SnO_2 NWs) are investigated. The samples are irradiated at three different doses 5\times10^12 ions/cm^2, 1\times10^13 ions/cm^2 and 5\times10^13 ions/cm^2 at room temperature. The XRD analysis shows that the tetragonal phase of SnO_2 NWs remains stable after Cu ion irradiation, but with increasing irradiation dose level the crystal size increases due to ion beam induced coalescence of NWs. The FTIR spectra of pristine SnO_2 NWs exhibit the chemical composition of SnO_2 while the Cu–O bond is also observed in the FTIR spectra after Cu ion beam irradiation. The presence of Cu impurity in SnO_2 is further confirmed by calculating the stopping range of Cu ions by using TRM/SRIM code. Optical properties of SnO_2 NWs are studied before and after Cu ion irradiation. Band gap analysis reveals that the band gap of irradiated samples is found to decrease compared with the pristine sample. Therefore, ion beam irradiation is a promising technology for nanoengineering and band gap tailoring.