Formation of Highly Porous Gas-sensing Films by In-situ Thermophoretic Deposition of Nanoparticles from Aerosol Phase

Abstract

AbstractGas sensors based on tin dioxide nanoparticles show high sensitivity to reducing and oxidizing gases. Dry aerosol synthesis applying the flame spray pyrolysis was used for manufacture and directly (in-situ) deposit nanoparticles on sensor substrates. For the first time this technique has been used to synthesize a combination of two stacked porous layers for gas sensor fabrication. Compared to state-of-the-art techniques, aerosol technology provides a direct and versatile method to produce homogeneous nanoparticle films. Two different sensing layers were deposited directly on interdigital ceramic substrates. These porous bottom layers consisted either of pure tin dioxide or palladium doped tin dioxide. The top layer was a palladium doped alumina nanoparticle film which served as a chemical filter. The fabricated gas sensors were tested with methane, CO and ethanol. In case of CH4 detection, the pure tin dioxide sensor with the Pd/Al2O3 filter layer showed higher sensor signals and significantly improved analyte selectivity with respect to water vapor compared to single tin dioxide films. At temperatures up to 250°C the Pd-doping of the tin dioxide strongly increased the sensitivity to all gases. At higher temperatures the sensor signal significantly decreased for the Pd/SnO2 sensor with a Pd/Al2O3 filter on top indicating high catalytic activity.