Formaldehyde sensitive Zn-doped LPFO thin films obtained by rf sputtering

This work is dedicated to the study of the structural, electrical and gas-sensing properties of some thin films obtained through rf magnetron sputtering using La0.8Pb0.2FeO3 (LPFO) and La0.8Pb0.2Fe0.8Zn0.2O3 (LPFO-Zn) perovskites as targets. Electrical behaviour of the obtained films is that of a p-type semiconductor for all studied gases, within the temperature range 100-380 °C. The thin films obtained with LPFO-Zn targets in which Zn2+ ions were partially substituted by Fe3+ ions present the best response to formaldehyde. At a concentration of 400 ppm gas at the operating temperature of 330 °C, the response to formaldehyde is spectacular (540).