Platinum containing semiconductor nanomaterials based on SnO2 with Pt-additives to analyze concentration of CH4 in air

Abstract

Nanosized semiconductor gas sensitive materials Pt/SnO2 were obtained by using sol-gel route, and sensors on their base were created. The nanoscale nature of semiconductor particles in Pt/SnO2 materials and aggregation of platinum clusters for the Pt/SnO2 materials with large platinum loading were confirmed by the x-ray diffraction method (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) data. It was found that gas sensitive and catalytic properties to methane oxidation depend on the platinum content. The catalytic activity increases with an increase in the amount of introduced Pt, but the response dependence on the platinum content is extremal. The highest response to methane was found to be 9.7 for the sensors based on 1.76 wt.% Pt/SnO2 at operation temperature 325 °C. This inconsistence was explained by the role of Pt–SnO2 interface in the process of the sensor signal formation.