Highly selective gas sensing properties of partially inversed spinel zinc ferrite towards H2S

Partially inverse spinel zinc ferrite has been synthesized by a molten salt route. It exhibits different cation occupancy and band gap from normal spinel zinc ferrite. Regarding that band structure plays an essential role in the gas sensing property of semiconducting material, the gas sensing properties of normal spinel and partially inverse spinel are measured and compared. With the favorable adsorption and moderate conductance, the partially inverse spinel zinc ferrite exhibits superior performance both in gas response and selectivity towards H2S. The optimum operating temperature is found to be 260 °C and the response time and recovery time are short. The excellent gas sensing properties is attributed to the favorable adsorption and change of it band structure due to special partially inverse spinel structure.