Simple chemical synthesis of CeO2 nanoparticles for toxic NO2 gas detection

Abstract

CeO2 nanoparticles (NPs) were synthesized using a cost-effective simple chemical method without any surfactant or additives at low temperature and short reaction time. The various techniques employed to investigate effect of annealing temperatures on structural, morphological and chemiresistive properties of the prepared CeO2 NPs, which were decorated on the glass substrates by drop casting technique. The CeO2 NPs exhibited cubic crystal structure and porous morphology, with specific surface area 52.92 m2/g for the C3 sample. This specific surface area is significant for achieving superb gas sensing performance. The optimized operating temperature was 150 °C, illustrated outstanding response of 57% towards 100 ppm, 12% response to 1 ppm of toxic NO2 gas was observed than other test gases with good reproducibility, excellent response (tres), recovery (trec) time, and notable stability (85%). The interaction between NO2 gas molecules and CeO2 NPs surface is analysed by impedance spectroscopy.