Engineered Photo-electrochemical Properties of Nano-Structured SnO₂

In the present study, photo-electrochemical properties of SnO2 Thin-film have been examined using first principles calculation. Increasing SnO2 film thickness from 0.3 nm to 2.5 nm results in band gap decrease, which revealed a strong quantum confinement effect. Our results indicate that visible-light absorption and charge carrier’s mobility of a chosen SnO2 film (2.5 nm) could be improved by applying tensile strain. Although, large pH value (pH ≥ 10) is needed to enhance band edges positions relative to the water redox (H2O/H2) levels. All these improvements make tensile strained-SnO2 a potential candidate for hydrogen production through water splitting.