Features of water vapor adsorption and desorption on the surface of non-stoichiometric tin dioxide films

Abstract

Herein, the influence of water vapor adsorption and desorption processes on the surface of SnO2−δ nanocrystalline films with different concentrations of oxygen vacancies on their electrical conductivity at room temperature was studied. SnO2−δ films were synthesized by means of reactive magnetron sputtering of tin in an argon-oxygen plasma followed by 2-stage oxidative annealing. The concentration of oxygen vacancies in the films was varied by changing the 2nd stage annealing temperature within the range 350–400 °C. It was found that in the films with the highest concentration of oxygen vacancies (~1020 cm−3) in the region of low relative humidity (less than ~30 %), an increase in electrical conductivity was observed due to the dissociative adsorption of water molecules with the formation of hydroxyl groups. The adsorption of water vapor on the surface of SnO2−δ films at room temperature at relative humidity values higher than ~30 % was found to induce a decrease in the electrical conductivity of the samples. The generation of positive and negative EMF pulses between the open surface of SnO2−δ nanocrystalline films and the one covered by waterproof materials under the adsorption and desorption of water vapor, respectively, was detected. The change of resistance and the generated EMF value under the adsorption-desorption processes was found to increase with the concentration of free charge carriers in the films.