Effect of Sn doping on the structural, optical, electrical and anticancer properties of WO3 nanoplates

This report is on the synthesis of Sn doped WO3 nanoplates by a facile co-precipitation method. Various characterization tools have been employed to study the effect of Sn doping on the structural, optical and dielectric properties of WO3 nanoplates. The successful incorporation of dopant ions in the monoclinic structure of WO3 has been verified by XRD, EDX, FTIR and Raman spectroscopy. It has been observed that there is a broadening in optical band gap for doped samples due to the band filling effects caused by the crystal defects. Furthermore, the frequency dependent electrical properties of WO3 nanoplates are found to be significantly tuned by Sn doping. Most importantly, this is one of the initial reports that Sn doped WO3 nanoplates are an excellent candidate for anticancer applications. The anticancer activity of WO3 nanoplates against MCF-7 cancer cells is increased with Sn doping which is attributed to several factors such as particle size, defects density and reactive oxygen species (ROS) production.