CTAB-assisted Hydrothermal Method for Tin Oxide Preparation as an Active Materials for Ethylene Gas Detection

Abstract

Detection of ethylene gas, a chemical compound that affects the ripening rate of several kinds of fruits, can be one of the solutions to prevent the overripeness of fruits. Metal oxide semiconductors as an active material for gas sensors have several advantages, such as high sensitivity and low cost. Tin oxide is one of the metal oxide semiconductors that is often used to detect several kinds of gases. In this research, tin oxide will be used as an active material for detecting ethylene gas. Tin oxide was successfully synthesized by the CTAB-assisted hydrothermal method and characterized using XRD and SEM. The material is a tetragonal-phase tin oxide based on its diffraction peaks. Meanwhile, SEM imaging shows that tin oxide has morphologies of irregular nanoparticles. The performance test was done by exposing the materials to 20 ppm of ethylene gas in a temperature range of 150°C–350°C. From the test result, it was shown that at higher working temperatures, the sensitivity will be higher. At a working temperature of 350ºC, the sensitivity of ethylene detection is 4.9.