Synthesis and characterization of stainless steel/tin oxide: Bifunctional magnetic-optical nanocomposites

Stainless steel coated by tin oxide nanoparticles are successfully synthesized using the simple reaction of SnCl4 with NaOH at 96 °C on the modified stainless steel surface. The room-temperature photoluminescence show three emission peaks near 390, 440 and 480 nm, moreover, the possible reasons leading to the emissions have been carried out. A study comparing the saturation magnetization of the nanocomposites with uncoated stainless steel has been conducted. The results indicate that the nanocomposite exhibit both magnetism and photoluminescence, in other words, as-synthesized nanocomposites take on magnetic and optical bifunctionalities.