Publication Date:
2015-02-18
Description:
Detection of methane is always a great cause of concern for safety productions in mines and chemical factories. The present study investigates the twin effect of UV illumination and catalytic activity on methane sensing characteristics of SnO 2 sensors. The sensitivity and selectivity of pure SnO 2 thin film sensors are improved by loading it with Pd catalyst clusters (8 nm). Further, optimizing the thickness of Pd clusters leads to an enhanced sensing response of 97% to 99% over a wider temperature range (160°C to 240°C) for 10 nm thick Pd clusters. The room temperature response of SnO 2 -Pd (10 nm) sensor increases to 99.7% under UV illumination (which was around 0.6% at room temperature under no illumination) which is attributed to the efficient catalytic dissociation of methane molecules besides the spillover process at room temperature. The present study therefore investigates the effect of UV illumination on methane sensing characteristics of S...
Print ISSN:
1757-8981
Electronic ISSN:
1757-899X
Topics:
Mechanical Engineering, Materials Science, Production Engineering, Mining and Metallurgy, Traffic Engineering, Precision Mechanics
