Room-temperature detection of ammonia and formaldehyde gases by LaxBa1−xSnO3−δ (x = 0 and 0.05) screen printed sensors: effect of ceria and ruthenate sensitization

• Published in: Applied physics. A, Materials science & processing Vol. 127; no. 2
• Main Authors: Manjunath, G., Vardhan, Robbi Vivek, Praveen, Lakkimsetti Lakshmi, Nagaraju, P., Mandal, Saumen
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 2021; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Ammonia; Applied physics; Aqueous solutions; Barium stannate; Cerium oxides; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Condensed Matter Physics; Crystallites; Dip coatings; Fluorite; Formaldehyde; Gas sensors; Gases; Heterostructures; Immersion coating; Lattice vacancies; Machines; Manufacturing; Materials science; Morphology; Nanotechnology; Optical and Electronic Materials; Oxygen atoms; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Porosity; Processes; Room temperature; Ruthenium trichloride; Sensors; Storage capacity; Surfaces and Interfaces; Thin Films; Vacancies; Screen printing; Sensitization; Selectivity; Barium stannate; Gas response
• ISSN: 0947-8396; 1432-0630
• DOI: 10.1007/s00339-021-04284-4

In the present work, gas sensing properties of the screen printed ceria and ruthenate-sensitized BaSnO 3 (BSO) with La doping heterostructure sensors towards the detection of ammonia and formaldehyde gases at room temperature were studied. Adhered, porous screen printed films with different morphologies were obtained by depositing the La x Ba 1− x SnO 3− δ ( x  = 0 and 0.05) powder particles prepared by the polymerized complex method. Ceria and ruthenate sensitization for screen printed La x Ba 1− x SnO 3− δ ( x  = 0.05) film was processed through dip-coating in the 0.03 M aqueous solution of CeCl 3 and RuCl 3 , respectively. La-doped BaSnO 3 (LBSO) sensor with smaller crystallites, needle-like morphology and high concentration of oxygen vacancies exhibited superior gas response of 65 and 29 towards 50 ppm of ammonia and formaldehyde gases, respectively. Superabundant sensitization of ceria and ruthenate reduced the oxygen vacancy and structural open porosity in the LBSO sensor; therefore, the ammonia gas response was decreased from 65 to 14 and 3, respectively, whereas the formaldehyde gas response was reduced to less than 1/6th times the LBSO sensor. Limit of detection of LBSO sensors was estimated to be ~ 1 and ~ 2 ppm against ammonia and formaldehyde, respectively. The presence of fluorite structured phase ceria with high oxygen atoms storage capacity facilitates the rapid oxidization of analyte gases and caused the expeditious response (75 s) and recovery (60 s) in CeO x -sensitized LBSO sensor. This study might give a new insight into the development of doped and sensitized BSO-based gas sensors operating at ambient conditions.