Enhanced ethanol sensing properties based on Sm₂O₃-doped ZnO nanocomposites

Abstract

TOCThe facile synthesis of Sm 2 O 3 -doped ZnO nanocomposite provides a potentially new approach for the development of ZnO-based sensor. 0 5 10 15 20 25 ZS -4 ZS -8 ZS -6 ZS -2 Toluene Ethanol Methanol Formaldehyde ZS -0 Respon se (Ra/Rg ) Abstract ZnO doped with 2, 4, 6 and 8 wt % samaria (Sm 2 O 3 ) were prepared by a novel sol spray combustion method. The samples were characterized by XRD, FESEM, EDX, UV-vis DRS and Raman techniques. The XRD results show that all samples containing various amount of Sm 2 O 3 have hexagonal wurtzite structure. UV-vis spectra show that the addition of Sm 2 O 3 did not affect the band gap of ZnO. Raman spectra exhibits that the Sm 2 O 3 -doped ZnO nanocomposite keeps the crystal structure of the bulk ZnO and possesses more surface defects. The influence of Sm 2 O 3 dopant on the response and selectivity for ethanol detecting of the sensor based on ZnO nanoparticles was investigated. The sensors' responses were measured in presence of 100 ppm of ethanol, formaldehyde, methanol and toluene. As 4 wt % Sm 2 O 3 was added to ZnO, the response to ethanol at various temperatures was significantly enhanced. The results reveal that doping Sm 2 O 3 may be a promising route for the production of ZnO-based gas sensor with good ethanol sensing properties.

Improvement of the optical and photocatalytic properties of ZnAl2O4: 1% La3+, x% Pb2+ nanoparticles synthesized by citrate sol-gel route

“…disordered) cation distribution [17]. Many synthesis methods preparation of ZnAl2O4 have been reported, such as: hydrothermal [10,18]; citrate [1,19,20], sol-gel [21][22], combustion [13,[23][24][25], pyrolysis [14,26], co-precipitation [15,[27][28][29] and solvothermal [30][31]. While doping ZnAl2O4 was carried out with transition metals or rare earths depending on the intended application [6-7, 14, 32].…”

One-pot synthesis of La-doped SnO2 layered nanoarrays with an enhanced gas-sensing performance toward acetone

“…Gas monitoring and detection represent a growing demand driven by their applications in air quality control, environmental protection and healthcare as well as security. 1,2 Gas sensors based on semiconductor metal oxides, such as SnO 2 , 3 ZnO, 4 In 2 O 3 (ref. 5) and TiO 2 , 6 play an important role in the detection of ammable, toxic and harmful gases.…”

Semiconductor nanomaterials for environmental applications

“…Bagheri et al [282]studied the sensitivity and selectivity of 2, 5 and 10 wt% Sm2O3 loaded ZnO flower-like gas sensors materials synthesized by via a microwave-assisted method using zinc acetate, samarium nitrate, as precursors and Guanidinium carbonate as a structure directing agent, for the selective detection of C2H5OH gas in the presence of CH4, CO, and toluene. In a similar study, Peng et al [283]doped ZnO with 2, 4, 6 and 8 wt % Sm2O3 through a novel sol spray combustion method and explored their gas sensing applications against 100 ppm of C2H5OH, HCHO, CH3OH, and toluene. These studied have confirmed the fact that Sm2O3-ZnO composites possess more surface defects as compared to virgin ZnO with hexagonal wurtzite phase.…”