title: Gas-sensing properties of needle-shaped Ni-doped SnO2 nanocrystals prepared by a simple sol-gel chemical precipitation method.
abstract: The preparation of needle-shaped SnO(2) nanocrystals doped with different concentration of nickel by a simple sol-gel chemical precipitation method is demonstrated. By varying the Ni-dopant concentration from 0 to 5 wt%, the phase purity and morphology of the SnO(2) nanocrystals are significantly changed. Powder XRD results reveal that the SnO(2) doped with a nickel concentration of up to 1 wt% shows a single crystalline tetragonal rutile phase, whereas a slight change in the crystallite structure is observed for samples with nickel above 1wt%. High resolution scanning electron microscopy (HRSEM) results reveal the change in morphology of the materials from spherical, for SnO(2), to very fine needle-like nanocrystals, for Ni-doped SnO(2), annealed at different temperatures. The gas sensing properties of the SnO(2) nanocrystals are significantly enhanced after the nickel doping.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli-620 015, India.
authors.forename: Rajeswari
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Yogamalar
authors.forename: Vellusamy
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Mahendran
authors.forename: Ramasamy
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Srinivasan
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Beitollahi
authors.forename: R Pradeep
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.forename: Arumugam Chandra
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Bose
authors.forename: Ajayan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vinu