Issue 9, 2024

Oxygen vacancy-enriched Zn2SnO4 for aliphatic alcohol sensing and enhanced selectivity towards n-butanol

Abstract

The sensitive detection of toxic flammable volatile organics using low cost efficient sensors is important for ensuring both indoor and outdoor safety. It is essential for chemical sensors to exhibit a significantly stronger response to target analytes compared to equivalent amounts of analogous competing chemicals. In line with this importance, current work evaluated the performance of Zn2SnO4, a n-type semiconducting metal oxide, for sensing n-butanol in comparison to methanol, ethanol, and propanol vapours. These vapours fall within the category of aliphatic alcohols but vary in characteristics such as molecular weight, vapour pressure, volatility, and diffusivity. In this work we have explored the sensor's performance by adjusting the operating temperature over the range of 225–300 °C while detecting 1000 ppm of each of these vapours. Efforts were made to establish a correlation between the sensor's responses with the interactions of these vapours on the sensor's surface. Prior to assessing the sensing characteristics of the solid-state-route-derived Zn2SnO4, its structural characteristics, including phase purity, crystalline structure, bonding patterns, morphology, and defect characteristics, were studied. This comprehensive analysis sheds light on the potential of Zn2SnO4 as an effective sensor for detecting n-butanol.

Graphical abstract: Oxygen vacancy-enriched Zn2SnO4 for aliphatic alcohol sensing and enhanced selectivity towards n-butanol

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
25 Oct 2023
Accepted
30 Jan 2024
First published
31 Jan 2024

Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2024,26, 7424-7434

Oxygen vacancy-enriched Zn2SnO4 for aliphatic alcohol sensing and enhanced selectivity towards n-butanol

R. T. Parayil, B. Bhagat, S. K. Gupta, K. Mukherjee and M. Mohapatra, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2024, 26, 7424 DOI: 10.1039/D3CP05178A

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