XRD Peak Shift and Enhancement of Repeated Mechanically Exfoliated SnO₂ Thin Films Synthesized from SnCl₂ Powder by Direct Heating

Mechanical exfoliation (ME) using a duct tape has been conducted upon SnO2 thin film. The film is synthesized from direct heating of SnCl2 powder. The SnCl2 powder is deposited upon a special arrangement of glass slides and directly heated using an electric stove with a temperature of around 350°C. The material resulted from the heating process occurs on glass slides adjacent to the heated powder glass slides. The materials are then analyzed using scanning electron microscope (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) to confirm the presence of SnO2 material. The SEM results show stacking of spherical particles with sizes in the ranges of 700 nm to 1 μm. The EDX result confirms the occurrence of 20% and 66% of Sn and O, respectively, as well as 13% of carbon and a very small percentage (0.99%) of chlorine remaining. The thin films are then mechanically exfoliated using a duct tape for as many as 5, 10, and 20 times. For each ME variation, the thin films are analyzed and compared using X-ray diffraction (XRD). The XRD results show semi-crystalline structure of SnO2 in cubic phase. The XRD results after ME show peaks, which are characteristics to SnO2 and tend to shift the peaks to higher 2θ. Furthermore, the intensity of the peaks is highest for 10 times ME showing crystalline improvement of the thin film after the ME treatment