Excitation dependent recombination studies on SnO2/TiO2 electrospun nanofibers

Abstract

Poly(vinyl acetate) (PVAc)/TiO2 nanofibers, PVAc/SnO2 nanoribbons and PVAc/SnO2-TiO2 nanoribbons were produced via electrospinning. TiO2 nanofibers and SnO2 nanoribbons were obtained by removal of the polymeric matrix (PVAc) after calcination at 450 °C. Interestingly, PVAc/SnO2-TiO2 nanoribbons were transformed into SnO2-TiO2 nanofibers after calcination under the similar conditions. Fiber morphology and elemental mapping confirmed through SEM and TEM microscope techniques respectively. The X-ray diffraction measurements suggested the presence of anatase TiO2 and rutile SnO2 and both were present in the SnO2-TiO2 mixed system. Systematic photoluminescence studies were performed on the electrospun nanostructures at different excitation wavelengths (λex1 = 325, λex2 = 330, λex3 = 350, λex4 = 397 and λex5 = 540 nm). We emphasize that the defects in the SnO2-TiO2 based on the defect levels present in TiO2 and SnO2 and anticipate that these defect levels may have great potential in understanding and characterizing various semiconducting nanostructures.