Optik 123 (2012) 21712173

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Optik
journal homepage: www.elsevier.de/ijleo

Synthesis and optical properties of SnO2 CuO nanocomposite

Wei Zhou a, , Manlin Tan b
a
b

Department of Material Science and Engineering, Shenzhen Graduate School, Harbin Institute of Technology, Xili, Shenzhen 518055, China
Research Institute of Tsinghua University in Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518057, China

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 4 May 2011
Accepted 11 October 2011

Keywords:
SnO2
Nanocomposite
Photoluminescence

a b s t r a c t
SnO2 CuO nanocomposite was synthesized by impregnating SnO2 nanowires with CuCl2 solution and
subsequent calcination. SEM and XRD were used to characterize the morphology and structure of the
product. The optical properties were analyzed by Raman and photoluminescence (PL) spectra at room
temperature. Except the strong orange emission of SnO2 , the PL spectrum showed a red shoulder at
678 nm which originated from the interface between SnO2 and CuO.
2011 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Tin oxide (SnO2 ) is a wide bandgap (3.6 eV) n-type semiconductor which receives great attention in the elds of gas sensors,
solar cells, light emission and lithium-ion batteries [16], etc. As is
well known, introducing another material to synthesize composite
material is an effective way to improve the physical and chemical properties. For example, graphene [79] is used to enhance its
electrochemical property; In2 O3 , WO3 , ZnO and CuO [1014] are
introduced to enhance gas sensing property; TiO2 and CuO [15,16]
are used to improve photocatalytic property. Among them CuO is a
distinct p-type metal oxide semiconductor with a bandgap of 1.2 eV
[1] and SnO2 CuO nanocomposite is synthesized for the applications in gas sensing, photocatalysis and electrochemistry areas
[1619]. However, its optical properties are rarely been reported.
In this paper, we introduced a simple facile method to synthesize
the SnO2 CuO nanocomposite and characterized its optical properties with Raman and photoluminescence spectra. The obtained
SnO2 CuO nanocomposite showed strong orange band emission
with a red shoulder at 678 nm, which had potential applications in
the elds of gas sensor, photocatalysis and lithium-ion batteries.
2. Experiments
Details of the synthesis of SnO2 CuO nanocomposite were as
follows: First SnO2 nanowires were grown by thermal evaporation
method. A ceramic boat loaded with Sn powder was placed in the
middle of a horizontal furnace. The substrate was Si wafer which

Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 755 26033290; fax: +86 755 26033504.
E-mail address: zhouweijupiter@yahoo.com.cn (W. Zhou).
0030-4026/$ see front matter 2011 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.ijleo.2011.10.027

was coated with Au lm. During the whole growth process the pressure in the furnace was kept at ambient atmospheric pressure and
high purity argon was used as carrier gas. The growth was performed at 1000 C for 1 h with a sparse of O2 introduced into the
furnace. Thereafter the product was impregnated into CuCl2 solution (1 wt%). After air-drying, the sample was heated to 900 C and
kept for 6 h in air atmosphere.
Scanning electron microscopy (SEM, Hitachi S-4700) and X-ray
diffraction (XRD, Rigaku D/Max 2500) were used to characterize the
morphology and structure of the sample. Raman and photoluminescence spectra were measured at room temperature (RT) using
Renishaw Invia Raman spectrometer with 514.5 nm argon ion laser
and 325 nm HeCd laser, respectively.
3. Results and discussion
The morphology of SnO2 nanowires and SnO2 CuO nanocomposite is shown in Fig. 1. From the low-magnication image of
Fig. 1(a), it was clear that the SnO2 nanowires had diameters range
from 100 to 500 nm, while length ranging from 30 to 60 m. One
of the thinnest nanowires with diameter about 80 nm was presented in Fig. 1(b). Unlike the smooth surface of SnO2 nanowires,
the SnO2 CuO nanocomposite had some clusters formed between
the intersections of SnO2 nanowires. As shown in the magnied
image of Fig. 1(d), the cluster was formed by particles with average
diameter about 150 nm.
The XRD pattern of SnO2 CuO nanocomposite is shown in Fig. 2.
All the diffraction peaks were in good agreement with tetragonal
phase of SnO2 (JCPDS No. 41-1445) and monoclinic CuO (JCPDS
No. 41-0254). Except the peaks of SnO2 , the peaks located at about
35.7 , 48.9 and 68.2 corresponding to (0 0 2), (2 0 2) and (1 1 3)
planes of monoclinic CuO, respectively. The sharp and strong peaks

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W. Zhou, M. Tan / Optik 123 (2012) 21712173

Fig. 1. SEM images of SnO2 nanowires (a), (b) and SnO2 CuO nanocomposite (c), (d).

Fig. 2. XRD pattern of SnO2 CuO nanocomposite.

at 337 cm1 could be assigned to the B1g mode of CuO. In addition,

the peak at 623 cm1 was overlapped with the A1g mode of SnO2
which could be assigned to the B2g mode of CuO [22,23]. However,
the peak for the Ag mode was not found and the peak at 318 cm1
could be assigned as A2u mode of CuO [23]. The origins of other additional peaks were not clear yet and the exact mechanism needed
to be further investigated.
The room temperature PL spectra of SnO2 nanowires and
SnO2 CuO nanocomposite are shown in Fig. 4. The spectrum of
SnO2 nanowires showed only a broad and strong orange band centered at about 600 nm. This strong emission might originate from
the interaction between oxygen vacancies and interfacial tin vacancies [24]. Compared with the spectrum of SnO2 nanowires, the
emission band showed a slightly violet shift in the spectrum of
SnO2 CuO nanocomposite. Furthermore, there existed a red shoulder at 678 nm. The luminescence peak at 677 nm was also referred
in the Cu-doped SnO2 [25], which was believed originating with Cu
ions. However in the SnO2 CuO nanocomposite, the SnO2 and CuO
were two independent phases. In addition, the peak at 678 nm was
not found in the PL spectrum of CuO [26,27]. So it was concluded
that the interface between SnO2 and CuO was the origin of the red
shoulder.

demonstrated that the composite had good crystalline structure,

and no Sn or Cu2 O was found.
The optical properties of SnO2 CuO nanocomposite were characterized by Raman and photoluminescence spectra. Fig. 3 shows
the Raman spectrum ranging from 200 to 1000 cm1 . The Raman
peaks at 475, 633 and 776 cm1 were in agreement with the
reported Eg , A1g and B2g modes for rutile SnO2 , respectively [20].
The peak at 687 cm1 could be attributed to the A2u longitudinaloptical (LO) vibration mode of SnO2 [21]. However the peaks of
CuO were not so strong as compared with that of SnO2 . The peaks

In conclusion, the SnO2 CuO nanocomposite was synthesized

by a simple facile method through impregnating SnO2 nanowires

Fig. 3. Raman spectrum of SnO2 CuO nanocomposite.

Fig. 4. RT PL spectra of SnO2 nanowires and SnO2 CuO nanocomposite.

4. Conclusion

W. Zhou, M. Tan / Optik 123 (2012) 21712173

with copper chloride solution and subsequent calcinations. XRD

and Raman spectra indicated that SnO2 CuO nanocomposite was
composed of tetragonal SnO2 and monoclinic CuO. The PL spectrum
showed a strong orange emission with a red shoulder at 678 nm.
The synthesized SnO2 CuO nanocomposite may nd applications
in the elds of photocatalysis, gas sensor and electrochemistry.
Acknowledgement
This work was supported by S&T program of Shenzhen government.
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