How Cu doping improves the interfacial wettability between Ag and SnO2 of Ag/SnO2 contact material

In order to explore how Cu doping improves the wettability between Ag and SnO2 of Ag/SnO2 contact material, the physical and chemical changes of pure SnO2 and Cu-doped SnO2 powders at a high temperature were studied using a laser simulated arc. The results show that some of the SnO2 grows preferentially along the (211) and (101) crystal planes, and the other part changes to SnO preferentially growing along the (101) crystal plane. SnO2 particles with SnO make contact with each other under the action of the simulation arc to form large agglomerate particles. Meanwhile, the deposition of gasified SnO2 during the arc process aggravates the formation of SnO2 agglomerates. However, Cu doping reduces the gasified deposition of SnO2 during the arc process, and inhibits the preferred growth of SnO2 along the (211) and (101) crystal planes and the change from SnO2 to SnO at a high temperature. Furthermore, Cu doping induces SnO2 grains to redistribute along a specific direction to form nanoneedle assembled Cu-doped SnO2 hierarchical nanostructures during the arc process. Finally, a mechanism of Cu doping which improves the interfacial wettability between Ag and SnO2 of Ag/SnO2 contact material is proposed. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.