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The application of conventional tin oxide thin film sensors is limited by its low response. In this study, a heterojunction thin film composed of nickel oxide deposited by electron beam evaporation and tin oxide prepared by radio-frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering has enhanced gaseous ethanol sensing properties. The 5 nm NiO/100 nm SnO 2 gas sensor shows the excellent response 7.9 at 250 °C for 100 ppm gaseous ethanol, good reproducibility, as well as good linearity. In addition, this sensor can measure the ultra-low concentration of gaseous ethanol, and the concentration can be as low as 100 ppb. The gas sensitive properties is related to the thickness of nickel oxide and the mechanism is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gas sensing response studies of the Ni 7+ ion irradiated (100 MeV) and non-irradiated SnO 2 thin film sensor prepared under same conditions have been performed towards SO 2 gas (500 ppm). The effect of irradiation on the structural, surface morphological, optical and gas sensing properties of SnO 2 thin film based sensor have been studied. A significant decrease in operating temperature (from 220 °C to 60 °C) and increased sensing response (from 1.3 to 5.0) is observed for the sample after irradiation. The enhanced sensing response obtained for the irradiated SnO 2 thin film based sensor is attributed to the desired modification in the surface morphology and material properties of SnO 2 thin film by Ni 7+ ions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The antimony-doped tin oxide thin films for gas sensors were prepared via a sol–gel route on alumina substrates. The influence of the antimony addition amount on the electrical resistance of thin films was concluded. The relationship between them was plotted in the coordinates of logarithmic resistance against doping amount. On the basis of the Schottky barrier model, a novel method was used to evaluate the width of depletion layer of semiconductive gas sensors by using the first-order derivative of logarithmic resistance with respect to doping amount. The values of the depletion layer width were calculated for the antimony-doped thin films. The H 2 S gas was used to examine the sensor properties, which positively correlated to the depletion layer width. The oxygen species of O 2− and O − were determined to be the adsorbates on SnO 2 grains with the same proportion at the operating temperature of 300 °C. The location of the Fermi level was found to be a crucial factor that dominated the calculation results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] Primary amine modified polyaniline nanothin film chemiresistor sensor for formaldehyde. [•] Nucleophilic addition of amines with formaldehyde carbonyl reaction. [•] Limit of detection 400ppb, ∼half of permissible exposure level. [•] Selectivity against acetaldehyde, acetone and formic acid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A composite optical waveguide sensor, consisting of lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO 4 , LFP) as the sensing material, was constructed and utilized for the detection of volatile organic compound gases. Nano-LFP powder was prepared via the hydrothermal method and was subsequently utilized in a dip-coating procedure for the fabrication of LFP thin films. The effect of heat treating temperature on the refractive index of the thin films was studied. A glass optical waveguide gas sensor was fabricated by coating an LFP thin film on the surface of single-mode tin-diffused glass optical waveguide. The sensor was found to exhibit a linear response to xylene in the range of 50–1000 ppm, with response times of less than 5 s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]