High-performance ethanol gas sensor using TiO2 nanostructures

• Published in: European physical journal plus Vol. 132; no. 7; p. 306
• Main Authors: Priyanka, K. P., Vattappalam, S. C., Sankararaman, S., Balakrishna, K. M., Varghese, Thomas
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.07.2017; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Applied and Technical Physics; Atomic; Chemical synthesis; Complex Systems; Condensed Matter Physics; Diffraction patterns; Ethanol; Gas sensors; Gases; High resolution electron microscopy; Industrial production; Low pressure; Low temperature; Mathematical and Computational Physics; Metal oxides; Molecular; Nanocomposites; Nanoparticles; Nanostructure; Operating temperature; Optical and Plasma Physics; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Recovery time; Regular Article; Scanning electron microscopy; Sensors; Solvents; Spectrum analysis; Temperature; Theoretical; Titanium dioxide; Transmission electron microscopy; X-ray diffraction; X-ray spectroscopy
• ISSN: 2190-5444; 2190-5444
• DOI: 10.1140/epjp/i2017-11581-x

. TiO 2 nanostructures were synthesized by simple chemical routes. As-synthesized nanostructures were characterized using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and selected area diffraction patterns. In the present work, the sensing element was fabricated as thin pellets of TiO 2 nanoparticles without using any sensitizers coating. A novel approach of adopting gas sensing measurements of ethanol vapours at a low pressure condition inside a vacuum system has been achieved. All the samples show high sensor response towards ethanol vapour detection at relatively low operating temperatures. Thus, a low-cost industrial production of efficient ethanol gas sensor with good response and recovery time is possible with the synthesized TiO 2 nanostructures.