Morphology, XRD and EDX study of screen-printed thick films based on SnO2 / Te nanocomposites

Abstract

Nanocomposites of tellurium and tin dioxide have been synthesized via solvothermal recrystallization of polycrystalline tellurium powder, followed by Te reduction in the presence of a tin chloride solution. Thick (~15 μm) solid films based on these composites have been fabricated using the screen-printed technique. The surface morphology of the films was investigated using the scanning electron microscope (SEM VEGA TESCAN TS 5130 MM) coupled with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscope (EDX, INCA OXFORD instruments) but XRD has been applied for their structural characterization. It has been established that composites consist of fluffy structures of tiny agglomerates of the nanodimensional irregular blocks of 100 - 200 nm comprising about 39 at.% Te and 6,0 at.% Sn.