Issue 8, 2017, Issue in Progress

Reducing gas-sensing performance of Ce-doped SnO2 thin films through a cosputtering method

Abstract

SnO2 thin films doped with various concentrations of Ce were grown by cosputtering Sn and Ce metallic targets in an Ar/O2 mixed atmosphere. The cerium concentrations in the SnO2 films were varied from 1.2 to 4.5 at% by varying the Ce sputtering power during thin-film growth. Surface morphology analysis revealed that the surface roughness of the Ce-doped SnO2 thin films increased with an increase in cerium concentration. X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy analysis results indicated that the Ce-doped SnO2 thin films were highly crystalline. Furthermore, Ce ions in the SnO2 thin films had mixed valence states; moreover, the oxygen vacancy density increased with an increase in Ce concentration. An increased Ce concentration in the SnO2 thin films engendered the roughening of the Ce-doped SnO2 film surface and increased the concentration of Ce4+ ions and oxygen vacancy number near the film surface. These factors are advantageous for enabling the adsorption of a relatively large number of oxygen ions on the film surface; therefore, increased ethanol vapor sensing responses of Ce-doped SnO2 thin films with an increase in Ce concentration were observed in this study.

Graphical abstract: Reducing gas-sensing performance of Ce-doped SnO2 thin films through a cosputtering method

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
26 Oct 2016
Accepted
03 Jan 2017
First published
17 Jan 2017
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

RSC Adv., 2017,7, 4724-4734

Reducing gas-sensing performance of Ce-doped SnO2 thin films through a cosputtering method

Y. Liang, C. Lee and Y. Lo, RSC Adv., 2017, 7, 4724 DOI: 10.1039/C6RA25853K

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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