Synthesis and LPG sensing properties of nano-sized cadmium oxide

This paper reports the synthesis and liquid petroleum gas (LPG) sensing properties of nano-sized cadmium oxide (CdO). The nano-sized CdO powder was successfully synthesized by using a chemical co-precipitation method using cadmium acetate and the ammonium hydroxide, as starting materials and water as a carrier. The resulting nano-sized powder was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements and the transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The LPG sensing properties of the synthesized nano-sized CdO were investigated at different operating temperatures and LPG concentrations. It was found that the calcination temperature and the operating temperature significantly affect the sensitivity of the nano-sized CdO powder to the LPG. The sensitivity is found to be maximum when the calcination temperature was 400 °C. The sensitivity to 75 ppm of LPG is maximum at an operating temperature 450 °C and it was found to be ∼341%. The response and recovery times were found to be nearly 3–5 s and 8–10 s, respectively. The synthesized nano-sized CdO powder is able to detect up to 25 ppm for LPG with reasonable sensitivity at an operating temperature 450 °C and it can be reliably used to monitor the concentration of LPG over the range (25–75 ppm). The experimental results of the LPG sensing studies reveal that the nano-sized CdO powder synthesized by a simple co-precipitation method is a suitable material for the fabrication of the LPG sensor.