Optical identification of oxygen vacancy types in SnO2 nanocrystals

Abstract

The oxygen vacancies in spherical and cuboid SnO2 nanocrystals prepared by hydrothermal and laser ablation methods are investigated optically. Three oxygen-vacancy-related photoluminescence peaks at ∼430, ∼501, and ∼618 nm are observed, and Raman scattering and density functional calculation disclose that they originate from in-plane, sub-bridging, and bridging oxygen vacancies, respectively. This work reveals that the photoluminescence peaks together with the Raman modes can be used to identify the oxygen vacancy types in SnO2 nanostructures.