Effect of Sn doping on the structural, photoluminescence, ultraviolet filtering and antibacterial activity of ZnO nanorods

• Published in: Optical and quantum electronics Vol. 55; no. 12
• Main Authors: Singh, C. John Clement, Samuel, J., Biju, C. S., Dhas, S. Sahaya Jude, Usharani, S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01-11-2023; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Computer Communication Networks; Electrical Engineering; Filtration; Lasers; Line spectra; Nanorods; Optical Devices; Optics; Photoluminescence; Photonics; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Sun screens; Tin; Zinc oxide; UV filter; Antibacterial activity; Wet chemical synthesis; Nanorods; Photoluminescence
• ISSN: 0306-8919; 1572-817X
• DOI: 10.1007/s11082-023-05336-0

In the present study, Sn-doped ZnO nanorods with varying Sn concentrations (0.5%, 1%, 2% and 5%) were prepared by wet chemical route. XPS results demonstrate the occurrence of doublet binding energies at 487.21 eV and 495.60 eV for the 5% Sn-doped ZnO nanorods which indicate the effective incorporation of Sn in the ZnO. Raman measurements reveal that the substitution of Sn
4+
ions with the Zn
2+
ions modifies the spectral lines associated with the E2H–E2L and A1 (LO) modes. The photoluminescence measurement of 5% Sn-doped ZnO reveals that the observed polychromatic emissions in the UV–visible regime have comparatively higher intensity than the other samples. interestingly, the 5% Sn-doped ZnO nanorods impart a positive UV filtering execution of 95% for UVA at 360 nm and 91% for UVB at 320 nm and the observed results of UV–visible absorbance have the ingredients of being a promising material for the preparation of sunscreen agents. Besides these intriguing results, the material could also throw a positive antibacterial effect for
S. aureus
such that among the four materials tested, 5% Sn-doped ZnO exhibits the highest zone of inhibition (12 ± 0.58) for
S. aureus
.