Synthesis and gas-sensing properties of Ce-doped SnO2 materials

Abstract

Ce-doped SnO2 (2, 5, 10%Ce) nanopowders were successfully synthesized by a sol-gel method and their gas sensing properties were investigated. The samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and thermogravimetric-differential thermal analyzer (TG-DTA). The results indicated that well-crystallized Ce-doped SnO2 particles in size of about 30nm were obtained at annealing temperature 800 °C. Ce-doped SnO2 sensors showed a high response to H2S, whose sensitivity is about sextuple of the undoped SnO 2 sensors to H2S, and to ethanol, about triplication of the undoped SnO2 sensors. These results were thought to be correlated with Ce distribution on the SnO2 surface and its effective contribution towards the conductivity and crystallite size of the grains. © 2009 IOP Publishing Ltd.