TITLE:
High Sensitivity of Porous Cu-Doped SnO2 Thin Films to Methanol
AUTHORS:
Sara Benzitouni, Mourad Zaabat, Aicha Khial, Djamil Rechem, Ahlem Benaboud, Dhikra Bouras, Abdelhakim Mahdjoub, Mahdia Toubane, Raphael Coste
KEYWORDS:
SnO2, Cu-Doped, Sensitivity, Porosity, Response Time, Band Gap, Thin Films
JOURNAL NAME:
Advances in Nanoparticles,
Vol.5 No.2,
May
20,
2016
ABSTRACT: Porous
Cu-doped SnO2 thin films were synthesized by the sol-gel dip-coating method for
enhancing methanol sensing performance. The effect of Cu doping concentration
on the SnO2 sensibility was investigated. XRD data confirm that the fabricated
SnO2 films are polycrystalline with tetragonal rutile crystal structure. AFM
and SEM micrographs confirmed the roughness and the porosity of SnO2 surface,
respectively. UV-Vis spectrum shows that SnO2 thin films exhibit high
transmittance in the visible region ~95%. The band gap (3.80 - 3.92 eV) and the
optical thickness (893 - 131 nm) of prepared films were calculated from
transmittance data. The sensing results demonstrate that SnO2 films have a high
sensitivity and a fast response to methanol. In particular, 3% Cu-SnO2 films
have a higher sensitivity (98%), faster response (10-2 s) and shorter recovery
time (18 s) than other films.