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Development of room temperature sensor based on high quality rhombohedral Al2O3:Cr2O3 (1:1) thin film with bone like morphological feature for ultrasensitive detection of NH3 gas

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Abstract

This paper describes the successful preparation of high quality (104) oriented Al2O3:Cr2O3 (1:1) thin film with rhombohedral phase and bone like surface morphology by RF magnetron sputtering technique. Compositional purity and its corresponding chemical states of the elements (Al3+ and Cr3+) present in the deposited films were ascertained by EDX and XPS analyses, respectively. In particular, the film deposited with 300 W RF power not only possess unique morphology (bone like morphology), but also exhibits superior gas sensing performance towards NH3 at room temperature due to its very high surface-to-volume ratio, which provide a more reaction site for NH3 gas molecules. Due to this unique morphological feature, the 1000 °C annealed Al2O3:Cr2O3 (1:1) film exhibited the good selectivity, long-term stability, high sensitivity (sensitivity = 4.14), excellent sensor response (SR = 99.7% for 100 ppm) for diverse range of ammonia concentrations and the film has an ability to respond even at very low concentration (1 ppm level) at room temperature. The probable gas sensing mechanism was also discussed.

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Acknowledgements

One of the authors R. Sivakumar gratefully acknowledges the Department of Education, Government of India for the financial support under RUSA—Phase 2.0 Scheme (Ref. No.: F. 24-51/2014-U, Policy (TNMulti-Gen), dt. 09.10.2018). In addition, R.S sincerely acknowledges the Department of Science and Technology, New Delhi, India for the financial support in general and infrastructure facilities sponsored under PURSE 2nd Phase program (Ref. No.: SR/PURSE Phase 2/38 (G) dt. 21.02.2017). Thanks are due to Dr. K. Jeyadheepan, School of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, SASTRA Deemed to be University, India for the assistance in gas sensing measurement.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, Alagappa Chettiar Government College of Engineering and Technology, Karaikudi, 630003, India

    S. Ponmudi

  2. Department of Physics, Alagappa University, Karaikudi, 630003, India

    R. Sivakumar

  3. Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, Alagappa Chettiar Government College of Engineering and Technology, Karaikudi, 630003, India

    C. Sanjeeviraja

  4. Department of Physics and Nanotechnology, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Kattankulathur, 603203, India

    C. Gopalakrishnan

  5. Department of Electrical, Electronics and Information Engineering, Nagaoka University of Technology, Nagaoka, 940 2188, Japan

    T. Okamoto

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  1. S. Ponmudi
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  4. C. Gopalakrishnan
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Correspondence to R. Sivakumar.

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Ponmudi, S., Sivakumar, R., Sanjeeviraja, C. et al. Development of room temperature sensor based on high quality rhombohedral Al2O3:Cr2O3 (1:1) thin film with bone like morphological feature for ultrasensitive detection of NH3 gas. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 31, 10123–10141 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-020-03558-6

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