Vanadium doped tin dioxide as a novel sulfur dioxide sensor

Abstract

Considering the short-term exposure limit of SO 2 to be 5 ppm, we first time report that semiconductor sensors based on vanadium doped SnO 2 can be used for SO 2 leak detection because of their good sensitivity towards SO 2 at concentrations down to 5 ppm. Such sensors are quite selective in presence of other gases like carbon monoxide, methane and butane. The high sensitivity of vanadium doped tin dioxide towards SO 2 may be understood by considering the oxidation of sulfur dioxide to sulfur trioxide on SnO 2 surface through redox cycles of vanadium–sulfur–oxygen adsorbed species.