Electrosprayed Metal Oxide Semiconductor Films for Sensitive and Selective Detection of Hydrogen Sulfide.docVIP

Sensors 2009, 9, 9122-9132; doi:10.3390/OPEN ACCESS sensors ISSN 1424-8220 /journal/sensors Article Electrosprayed Metal Oxide Semiconductor Films for Sensitive and Selective Detection of Hydrogen Sulfide Camelia Matei Ghimbeu 1,*, Martine Lumbreras 1, Joop Schoonman 2 and Maryam Siadat 1 1 LASC Groupe Capteurs, ISEA, University Paul Verlaine-Metz, 7 rue Marconi, 57070 Metz, France; E-Mails: lumbre@univ-metz.fr (M.L.); siadat@univ-metz.fr (M.S.) 2 Delft Institut for Sustainable Energy, Delft University of Technology, Julianalaan 136, 2628 BL Delft, The Netherlands; E-Mail: joops@ * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail:camelia.ghimbeu@uha.fr; Tel.: +33-387-547-316; Fax: +33-387-547-301. Received: 13 October 2009; in revised form: 5 November 2009 / Accepted: 6 November 2009 / Published: 17 November 2009 Abstract: Semiconductor metal oxide films of copper-doped tin oxide (Cu-SnO2), tungsten oxide (WO3) and indium oxide (In2O3) were deposited on a platinum coated alumina substrate employing the electrostatic spray deposition technique (ESD). The morphology studied with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) shows porous homogeneous films comprising uniformly distributed aggregates of nano particles. The X-ray diffraction technique (XRD) proves the formation of crystalline phases with no impurities. Besides, the Raman cartographies provided information about the structural homogeneity. Some of the films are highly sensitive to low concentrations of H2S (10 ppm) at low operating temperatures (100 and 200 °C) and the best response in terms of Rair/Rgas is given by Cu-SnO2 films (2500) followed by WO3 (1200) and In2O3 (75). Moreover, all the films exhibit no cross-sensitivity to other reducing (SO2) or oxidizing (NO2) gases. Keywords: semiconductor metal oxide; electrostatic spray deposition; gas sensors; pollu