Structural and micro structural studies of PbO-doped SnO2 sensor for detection of methanol, propanol and acetone

In the present work the structural information of PbO-doped SnO2 thick film sensor has been investigated with X-ray diffractometer (XRD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). Initially, SnO2 powder was derived using sol-gel process and was subsequently doped with PbO and ground up to nanosized particles. A suitable gas sensor structure was fabricated on 1″ × 1″ alumina substrate using thick film technology. The necessary paste for screen printing was also developed. SEM results showed sol-gel derived powder gets more agglomerated in the thick film form. The sensitivity of the sensor has been investigated at different temperatures (150°C–350°C) upon exposure to methanol, propanol and acetone, yielding a maximum at 250°C for acetone with 1 wt% PbO-doping while at 350°C for propanol with 3 wt% PbO-doping of the sensor. The reduction of particle size to nanometers (validated through XRD) leads to a dramatic improvement in sensitivity of sensors for the chosen organic vapors. The results also correlate well with the microstructural properties of the material and the dopant.