Effect of Fe doping on the NH3 sensing properties of CuO nanostructures

• Published in: Journal of materials science. Materials in electronics Vol. 30; no. 7; pp. 6920 - 6928
• Main Authors: Bhuvaneshwari, S., Gopalakrishnan, N.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.04.2019; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Ammonia; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Chemistry and Materials Science; Detection; Doping; Gas sensors; Materials Science; Optical and Electronic Materials; Sensors; Temperature sensors
• ISSN: 0957-4522; 1573-482X
• DOI: 10.1007/s10854-019-01007-7

Herein we report an efficient Fe doped CuO based room temperature sensor for ammonia. The sensors were fabricated by a simple solution casting route whereas, the sensing material was synthesized by a low cost hydrothermal method. Different concentration of Fe doping in CuO (0 at.%, 2 at.%, 4 at.% and 8 at.%) resulted in interesting structural and morphological changes. Higher concentration of doping (8 at.%) revealed the formation of rod-like α-Fe 2 O 3 structures with flakes of CuO decorated over the surface. The presence of this α-Fe 2 O 3 , found to positively influence the gas sensing properties of CuO. The incorporation of 2 at.% Fe resulted in enhancement of sensor response by two times whereas, the formation of α-Fe 2 O 3 enhanced the sensor response by 5%. The plausible sensor response is attributed to the formation of p – p isotype hetero junctions between CuO and α-Fe 2 O 3 and resulted the change in hole accumulation layer.