Abstract
Gas sensors based on tin oxide (SnO2) and palladium doped SnO2 (Pd:SnO2) active materials are fabricated by a laser printing method, i.e. reactive laser-induced forward transfer (rLIFT). Thin films from tin based metal-complex precursors are prepared by spin coating and then laser transferred with high resolution onto sensor structures. The devices fabricated by rLIFT exhibit low ppm sensitivity towards ethanol and methane as well as good stability with respect to air, moisture, and time. Promising results are obtained by applying rLIFT to transfer metal-complex precursors onto uncoated commercial gas sensors. We could show that rLIFT onto commercial sensors is possible if the sensor structures are reinforced prior to printing. The rLIFT fabricated sensors show up to 4 times higher sensitivities then the commercial sensors (with inkjet printed SnO2). In addition, the selectivity towards CH4 of the Pd:SnO2 sensors is significantly enhanced compared to the pure SnO2 sensors. Our results indicate that the reactive laser transfer technique applied here represents an important technical step for the realization of improved gas detection systems with wide-ranging applications in environmental and health monitoring control.
Highlights
A versatile method, which allows the transfer of solid[10,11,12] or liquid phase materials[13,14,15] with very high resolution, in air or vacuum, without contamination and a minimal consumption of material
Reactive laser-induced forward transfer is a useful process which combines the advantages of an additive technique with the possibility of decomposing materials partially upon exposure to laser light. reactive LIFT (rLIFT) doesn’t require the use of an absorbing layer, which in turn lowers the risk of printed material contamination, and the acetylacetonates decompose into small gaseous species
This work is focused on the fabrication of highly sensitive SnO2 and Pd doped SnO2 sensors by reactive LIFT and the evaluation of the performances of the rLIFT-ed sensors towards different analytes
Summary
A versatile method, which allows the transfer of solid[10,11,12] or liquid phase materials[13,14,15] with very high resolution, in air or vacuum, without contamination and a minimal consumption of material. A new approach, i.e. reactive LIFT (rLIFT) has been evaluated as an alternative method to LIFT, which allows the integration of SnO2 and Pd:SnO2 patterns for their use in micro-sensors. In rLIFT, the donors are UV absorbing metal complex precursors (i.e. metal acetylacetonates) which upon absorption of the laser light partially decompose to SnO2 or Pd:SnO221. RLIFT is a unique technique which combines the advantages of the low decomposition temperatures of the acetylacetonates together with the spatial resolution of the laser based method. The transformation of the metal precursor to SnO2 takes place partially during laser transfer as a result of the photochemical and thermal processes, which in this particular case are an advantage as they shorten the fabrication process. The results presented in this work prove that rLIFT has great potential for the integration of active materials into micro-sensing devices
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