Investigation of structural and electrical properties of CuO modified SnO2 nanoparticles

Nanocrystalline SnO2 was prepared by the co-precipitation method and doped with CuO. Crystallite sizes were estimated by Scherrer formula to be of the order of 90 nm and lesser. A.C. conduction behaviour of the samples has been described by the different hopping processes. From impedance analysis multi-relaxation processes in the samples are evident. Shrinkage of Cole–Cole plots with increase in temperature is also observed in our case which shows role of grain and grain boundary effects in the conduction mechanism with rise in temperature. Dielectric constant decreases with frequency but increases with rise in temperature which is governed by different components of polarizability (deformational and relaxational polarization). Dielectric constant increases with rise in temperature but at higher frequency range it takes constant value. Impedance analysis is used to explain the effects of grain and grain boundary on transport mechanism of undoped and CuO modified SnO2 nanoparticles.