Enhancement of dielectric properties of SnO2 nanoparticles by Fe substitution

Abstract

Samples of iron-substituted tin dioxide, with the chemical formula Sn_1-xFe_xO₂ (x = 0.00–0.04), have been successfully made via a hydrothermal process and then heated for three hours at 600 °C. A thorough study was done on what happens to the crystallinity, shape, and dielectric properties of SnO₂ nanoparticles (NPs) when the concentration of the Fe dopant is changed. X-ray diffraction and Raman scattering demonstrated the polycrystalline rutile structure of all the produced compositions. TEM micrographs show nanoscale tetragonal grains. Microstructural analyses show that adding Fe changes the growth of grains, which in turn changes how dielectric these materials are. We looked at the dielectric properties (ε′, ε″, and tan δ) and AC conductivity (σ_ac) of all the nanoparticles in terms of their frequency and composition at room temperature. These characteristics exhibit a dispersion at low frequencies and grow to a constant value at high frequencies because they are frequency-dependent. We observe an increase in conductivity as the frequency rises. The values of ε′, ε″, tan δ, and (σ_ac) for the composition-dependent dielectric properties of the substituted samples went down as the amount of substituents added went up. The results show that Fe-doped SnO₂ NPs have better dielectric and microstructural properties. This means that they might be a good choice for making high-frequency devices.