Title: Doped nano-phase tin oxide thin films for selective gas sensing

Authors: Akshay V. Singhal; Kamlesh Chandra; Vijaya Agarwala

Addresses: Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, Roorkee – 247667, Uttarakhand, India ' Centre of Excellence: Nanotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, Roorkee – 247667, Uttarakhand, India ' Centre of Excellence: Nanotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, Roorkee – 247667, Uttarakhand, India

Abstract: The paper deals with the development of ethanol gas sensing films of tin oxide nano-particles which are insensitive to saturated aliphatic hydrocarbons, such as gasoline vapours. Stannous alkoxide (particularly iso-propoxide) and tin 2-ethyl hexanoate in solution have been used for fabrication of tin oxide films on alumina substrates with two pre-fabricated gold electrodes. For achieving selectivity, attempts have been made to stabilise the desirable composition of tin oxide by addition of bivalent and trivalent dopants such as cadmium, lanthanum, molybdenum, zinc, aluminium, etc. in low concentrations (of the order of 0.5-2 mol %). The sensing behaviours of various tin oxide films so produced are studied in terms of resistance vs. time. Film morphology was studied using FESEM. XRD analysis was done for compositional characterisation.

Keywords: nanotechnology; tin oxide nanoparticles; gas sensors; doped thin films; selectivity; ethanol sensing; alumina substrates; gold electrodes; stabilisation; resistance; time; film morphology.

DOI: 10.1504/IJNT.2015.067210

International Journal of Nanotechnology, 2015 Vol.12 No.3/4, pp.248 - 262

Published online: 31 Jan 2015 *

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