Role of Cu in engineering the optical properties of SnO 2 nanostructures: Structural, morphological and spectroscopic studies

•Pure and Cu-doped SnO2 nanostructures have been successfully synthesized using co-precipitation method.•Rietveld refinement confirmed the formation of rutile phase of pure and Cu doped SnO2.•UV–visible results revealed that the band gap of the synthesized SnO2 nanoparticles increased with increase in Cu content.•Photoluminescence spectroscopy showed that there was increase in the emission intensity with increase in Cu content.