Room temperature liquefied petroleum gas sensing using Cu2SnS3/CdS heterojunction

• Published in: Journal of alloys and compounds Vol. 709; pp. 92 - 103
• Main Authors: Lokhande, A.C., Yadav, A.A., Lee, JuYeon, He, Mingrui, Patil, S.J., Lokhande, V.C., Lokhande, C.D., Kim, Jin Hyeok
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Lausanne Elsevier B.V 30.06.2017; Elsevier BV
• Subjects: Annealing; Cadmium sulfide; CTS; Emission analysis; Field emission microscopy; Gas response; Gas sensor; Gas sensors; Heterojunction; Liquefied petroleum gas; LPG; Natural gas; Optical properties; Recovery time; Room temperature; Sulfurization; Temperature; Thin films; X-ray diffraction; LPG; Sulfurization; Gas sensor; CTS; Gas response; Heterojunction
• ISSN: 0925-8388; 1873-4669
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jallcom.2017.03.135

In the present work, for the first time, we report the fabrication of Cu2SnS3 (CTS)/CdS heterojunction for room temperature (27 °C) liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) sensing. The heterojunction is formed between sputter deposited CTS thin films and chemically bath deposited CdS thin films. The structural, morphological and optical properties of the thin films are evaluated using X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and UV–visible spectroscopy techniques, respectively. The fabricated heterojunction quality is evaluated from the forward biased current-voltage (I-V) study and the influence of annealing treatment of p-CTS thin film on LPG sensing properties of the heterojunction has been investigated. The CTS/CdS heterojunction exhibits maximum LPG response of 56% at room temperature under exposure of 780 ppm LPG concentration with 31s and 56s response and recovery time, respectively. The device retained 95% gas sensing stability after time period of 60 days suggesting that the fabricated CTS/CdS heterojunction is reliable and promising for LPG sensing. The factors affecting LPG sensing performance and plausible gas sensing mechanism are discussed in this study. [Display omitted] •CTS/CdS heterojunction based LPG sensor.•56% LPG sensing response upon exposure of 780 ppm LPG concentration.•95% gas sensing stability of the junction after time period of 60 days.•LPG gas sensing mechanism.