Study on the Defect Structure of SnO₂:F Nanoparticles by High-Resolution Solid-State NMR

In this contribution the preparation and structural characterization of nanoscale fluorine doped tin-oxide (SnO 2:F, FTO) is described. By using a microwave assisted polyol approach, nanoparticles with different doping levels are prepared, which show narrow size distribution as measured by X-ray diffraction, electron microscopy and dynamic light scattering. They were converted into electrically conductive optically transparent films at 500 °C by a specific thermal treatment (500 °C in air followed by 250 °C in forming gas), exhibiting a specific resistivity of (1.9 × 10 −1 Ω cm). Solid-state MAS NMR and 119 Sn Mössbauer spectroscopy were used to study how F atoms are incorporated into the SnO 2:F nanoparticles. Distance constraints were determined by 119 Sn{ 19 F} REDOR, fluorine-doping homogeneity by homonuclear dipolar recoupling experiments (SR6 6 2 ). Cross-polarization was used to investigate the immediate environment of the dopant. The experiments were supplemented by first-principles quantum-chemical calculations for possible defect site models. The combined data strongly indicate that F doping is not directly related to an increase in charge-carrier concentration, even though F atoms do occupy O vacancy sites in SnO 2:F. For this study we have implemented background compensated NMR 2D pulse-sequences which reliably suppress the fluorine background originating from the NMR probe. Moreover we show that cluster calculations on the basis of the extended embedded ion method (EEIM) can be used to study the structure of diluted defects in crystalline host structures and predict NMR properties.