Co-precipitation synthesis of nanocrystalline SnO2: Effect of Fe doping on structural, morphological and ethanol vapor response properties

•Co-precipitation synthesis of pure and doped SnO2 for gas response application.•Influence of doping on the gas response properties of SnO2.•Variation in gas response properties with particle size.•Potential ability of Fe doped SnO2 for ethanol vapor detection.

The present study describes undoped and Fe-doped tin dioxide thick films as selective ethanol vapor sensors. The undoped and Fe doped SnO2 powders were synthesized by using a facile co-precipitation route. The thick films of undoped and Fe-doped SnO2 were deposited by screen-printing technique and then sintered at 650 °C for 2 h. The samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDAX) techniques. The XRD studies reveal formation of nanocrystalline structure. The particle size of undoped and Fe (2 and 4 mol%) doped SnO2 sintered powders were 17, 10 and 8 nm, respectively. It was found that the response of SnO2 improved on addition of Fe. The 2 mol% Fe doped SnO2 exhibits highest response toward ethanol at the operating temperature of 300 °C with response and recovery time of 15 and 32 s, respectively.