Study on low temperature DC electrical conductivity of SnO₂ nanomaterial synthesized by simple gel combustion method

Nanocrystalline tin oxide (SnO₂) material of different particle size was synthesized using gel combustion method by varying oxidizer (HNO₃) and keeping fuel as a constant. The prepared samples were characterized by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and Energy Dispersive Analysis X-ray Spectroscope (EDAX). The effect of oxidizer in the gel combustion method was investigated by inspecting the particle size of nano SnO₂ powder. The particle size was found to be increases with the increase of oxidizer from 8 to 12 moles. The X-ray diffraction patterns of the calcined product showed the formation of high purity tetragonal tin (IV) oxide with the particle size in the range of 17 to 31 nm which was calculated by Scherer's formula. The particles and temperature dependence of direct (DC) electrical conductivity of SnO₂ nanomaterial was studied using Keithley source meter. The DC electrical conductivity of SnO₂ nanomaterial increases with the temperature from 80 to 300K and decrease with the particle size at constant temperature