Characterization of Nanostructured SnO2 Thin Film Coated by Ag nanoparticles

Nanostructured sno2 thin films were prepared using electron beam-physical vapor deposition (eb-pvd) technique. then ag nanoparticles synthesized by laser-pulsed ablation were sprayed on the films. in order to form a homogenous coat of sno2 on the glass surface, it was thermally treated at 500°c for 1 h. at this stage, the combined layer on the substrate was completely dried for 8 h in the air at room temperature right after the ag colloidal nps were sprayed on the tin oxide layer. the crystal structure and surface morphology of thin film were studied by x-ray diffraction (xrd), electron diffraction x-ray (edx), transition electron microscopy (tem) and scanning electron microscopy (sem). the average crystallite size of sno2 nanoparticles estimated by xrd was about 9 nm. on the other hand, the sno2 nps with 6 nm size were distributed by the tem image. the thickness of sno2 –ag layer was measured about 2.48 µm.