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Selective xylene sensor employing europium-doped nickel oxide nanoparticles

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Abstract

The present paper describes the synthesis of pure NiO and (1 at%, 3 at%, and 5 at%) Eu-doped NiO via coprecipitation method and their application as xylene sensor. X-ray diffraction patterns revealed the cubic structure of all the samples. Interestingly, europium as a dopant modified the surface morphology of NiO which was confirmed through SEM images. Pure NiO exhibited micro-rod-like structure but doping with europium in NiO transformed the morphology into nanoparticles. Brunauer–Emmett–Teller results suggested that europium doping increases the surface area of nickel oxide and found to be maximum for 3 at% Eu-doped NiO. Raman data revealed the presence of nickel vacancies and numerous defects present in 3 at% Eu-doped NiO which was also confirmed with photoluminescence spectroscopy. Pure NiO exhibited a clear signal in the temperature range from 150 to 400 °C with optimum response at 250 °C. On the other hand, all the doped samples show an optimum response at 200 °C in the temperature range from 100 to 400 °C. The sensor device fabricated from 3 at% Eu-doped NiO shows selectivity towards xylene at 200 °C and was able to identify the traces of xylene at 10 ppm level. The improved sensing performance is attributed to various factors such as high surface area, presence of numerous defects, and nickel vacancies. Therefore, the sensing performance of sensor device suggested that the device can be relevant for acting as xylene sensor.

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the university’s Central Instrumental Facility for providing experimental facilities.

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  1. Department of Physics, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, 143005, India

    Shailja, K. J. Singh & Sandeep Sharma

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S: synthesis, measurements, characterization, and Writing—Original draft, KJS: Conceptualization of work and Supervision, SS: Writing—Original draft preparation. All authors approved the final version of the manuscript.

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Shailja, Singh, K.J. & Sharma, S. Selective xylene sensor employing europium-doped nickel oxide nanoparticles. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 33, 26243–26262 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-022-09309-z

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