Wet chemistry synthesis of SnO2/MWCNTs nanocomposites and their tuning energy bandgap properties

• SnO2/MWCNTs nanocomposites were synthesized by wet chemistry method.
• Nucleation sites were created on MWCNTs surfaces by different oxidants.
• Weak and aggressive oxidants played a key role in MWCNTs functionalization.
• Highly dense and uniform SnO2 nanoparticles on the surface of MWCNTs were achieved.
• Low energy bandgap nanocomposites were observed from the weak oxidant treated sample.

Semiconducting carbon nanotubes are a promising material for nanophotonic applications. The energy bandgap of carbon nanotubes can be tuned by functionalizing it with metal oxides. In this article, the focus is on the substantial reduction of energy bandgap of nanocomposite materials using SnO2/MWCNTs by wet chemistry method. In this method, the MWCNTs are treated with different oxidizing agents and their mixtures in order to generate nucleation sites for the target material particles. The SnO2 nanoparticles were deposited on these nucleation sites by hydrothermal reaction. The energy bandgaps decreased from 3.68 eV to 2.93 eV for the SnO2/MWCNT nanocomposites.