Ni-W-codoping effects on the optical and structural properties of SnO2 nanoparticles

Nanoparticles (NPs) of tin oxide codoped with Ni/W ions were synthesized by a co -precipitation technique. The Ni ions molar concentration was fixed at 5% while that of the W ions was varied as, 1.5%, 2.5%, and 3.5%. The present investigation was aimed to study the effect of W doping level on the structural and optical properties of the NPs. The X-ray fluorescence (XRF) technique was performed to check the purity of the nanocrystalline samples. The crystalline structure was investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD). The results indicate that the Ni/W ions were dissolved in SnO2 lattice forming a solid solution. The variation of the optical bandgap (E g ) of the host SnO2 NPs was measured by the diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) as a function of W% doping level. The bandgap was red -shifted that improve the photocatalytic activity under visible light illumination.