Nanocrystalline CdSnO3 Based Room Temperature Methanol Sensor

Abstract

Synthesis of nanocrystalline CdSnO3 powder by ultrasonic atomizer assisted wet chemical method is reported in this paper. Synthesized CdSnO3 powder was characterized by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) to examine phase and microstructure. FESEM and TEM analysis reveals that the CdSnO3 powder prepared here is porous monodisperse nanocrystalline in nature, with average particle size of approximately 17 nm or smaller. The material is also characterized by UV-Visible and Photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. Thick films of synthesized CdSnO3 powder fired at 850 0C are made by using screen printing method. The films surface is modified by using dipping method. CuCl2 (0.005 M) dipped (for 2 min) thick film shows high response (R= 477) to 100 ppm methanol at room temperature (35 0C). The sensor shows good selectivity and fast response recovery time to methanol. The excellent methanol sensing performance, particularly high response values is observed to be mainly due to porous CdSnO3 surface.

Keywords

• Cadmium stannate
• Nanocrystalline powder
• Thick films