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Tracing of Ammonia Gas by Solution-Combustion-Derived Pristine and Nb-Doped TiO2 Films: Beneficial Impact of Crystallinity and Adsorbed Oxygen on the Gas Response

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Abstract

The current work delivers room-temperature ammonia (NH3) gas-detectable pristine, Nb-doped TiO2 air- and vacuum-annealed films obtained through the solution-combustion process. Polycrystalline anatase crystal structured films without any dopant oxide phases were processed at 400°C on glass substrates. The crystallinity was higher in pristine films than in doped films; the morphological features were similar in all the films. The films were > 50% transparent, and the estimated optical energy band gap was greater in doped films than in pristine films. All the films detected NH3 gas (25 ppm to 100 ppm) at room temperature, and the gas response was highly dependent on the crystallinity and relative area fraction of adsorbed oxygen (% of OA). The vacuum-annealed pristine film exhibited a better gas response than the other films at all NH3 gas concentrations due to high crystallinity and % of OA (10.15%). The film demonstrated maximum gas response of ~16 towards 100 ppm of NH3 gas and displayed good selectivity. Even though the doping reduced the crystallite size from ~17 nm to ~9 nm, it also diminished the crystallinity of the films, which significantly impacted the deterioration of their gas response.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank the Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, NITK Surathkal, India. The authors also thank the Department of Physics, CMR Technical Campus, Hyderabad, for providing gas sensing measurements.

Funding

This work is supported by the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), Department of Science and Technology (CRG/2021/001084).

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  1. Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, National Institute of Technology Karnataka (NITK), Surathkal, 575025, India

    Robbi Vivek Vardhan, G. Manjunath & Saumen Mandal

  2. Department of Physics, Sreenidhi University, Hyderabad, 501301, India

    P. Nagaraju

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RVV designed, performed the experiments, and wrote the manuscript. PN provided the gas sensing experimental facilities. SM gave essential guidance throughout the experimentation and preparation of the manuscript. MG, PN, and SM reviewed and corrected the manuscript. All the authors read and agreed the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Saumen Mandal.

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Vardhan, R.V., Manjunath, G., Nagaraju, P. et al. Tracing of Ammonia Gas by Solution-Combustion-Derived Pristine and Nb-Doped TiO2 Films: Beneficial Impact of Crystallinity and Adsorbed Oxygen on the Gas Response. J. Electron. Mater. 52, 6360–6377 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-023-10577-6

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