Synthesis of Tin Oxide Thick Film and Its Investigation as a LPG Sensor at Room Temperature

Tripti Shukla

doi:10.4236/jst.2012.23015

Abstract

Present paper reports the synthesis of SnO2, its characterization and performance as Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) Sensor. XRD pattern revealed the tetragonal crystalline nature of the material. Crystallites sizes were in the range 14 - 30 nm. Tin oxide thick film was prepared by using screen printing technique. After that these were investigated through SEM. SEM image of thick-film surface was spherical in shape and porous. Further at room temperature, the film was exposed to LPG in a controlled gas chamber and variations in resistance with the concentrations of LPG were observed. The maximum value of average sensitivity of thick film was 37 MΩ/min for 5 vol. % of LPG. Sensor responses as a function of exposure and response times were also estimated and maximum sensor response were found 273 and 312 for 4 and 5 vol. % of LPG respectively.

Highlights

The properties of metal oxides have received a great deal of interest for many years, due to applications in various fields such as solar cells, optical devices and oxidation catalysts
Prima-facie before the exposition of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) to the sensing element, the gas chamber was allowed to evacuate at room temperature for 15 - 20 min and the stabilized resistance was taken as resistance in air (Ra)
The morphological and structural investigations have proven the nanocrystalline nature of the tin oxide thick film synthesized through chemical coprecipitation method

Summary

Introduction

The properties of metal oxides have received a great deal of interest for many years, due to applications in various fields such as solar cells, optical devices and oxidation catalysts. Numerous metal oxide semiconductor materials have been reported to be usable as gas sensor, such as ZnO, SnO2, and TiO2 and so on [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10]. These materials have non-stoichiometric structure, so free electron, originating from oxygen vacancies contribute to electrical conductivity. The detection of LPG in domestic appliances must be no false or missing alarms during cooking, which requires the equipment to identify LPG [20]

Methods

Results

Conclusion