Chemiresistors Based on Li-Doped CuO–TiO<sub>2</sub> Films

oleh: Alfio Torrisi, Jiří Vacík, Giovanni Ceccio, Antonino Cannavò, Vasily Lavrentiev, Pavel Horák, Roman Yatskiv, Jan Vaniš, Jan Grym, Ladislav Fišer, Martin Hruška, Přemysl Fitl, Jaroslav Otta, Martin Vrňata

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: MDPI AG 2021-09-01

Deskripsi

Chemiresistors based on thin films of the Li-doped CuO–TiO<sub>2</sub> heterojunctions were synthesized by a 2-step method: (i) repeated ion beam sputtering of the building elements (on the Si substrates and multisensor platforms); and (ii) thermal annealing in flowing air. The structure and composition of the films were analyzed by several methods: Rutherford Backscattering (RBS), Neutron Depth Profiling (NDP), Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS), and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), and their sensitivity to gaseous analytes was evaluated using a specific lab-made device operating in a continuous gas flow mode. The obtained results showed that the Li doping significantly increased the sensitivity of the sensors to oxidizing gases, such as NO<sub>2</sub>, O<sub>3</sub>, and Cl<sub>2</sub>, but not to reducing H<sub>2</sub>. The sensing response of the CuO–TiO<sub>2</sub>–Li chemiresistors improved with increasing Li content. For the best sensors with about 15% Li atoms, the detection limits were as follows: NO<sub>2</sub> → 0.5 ppm, O<sub>3</sub> → 10 ppb, and Cl<sub>2</sub> → 0.1 ppm. The Li-doped sensors showed excellent sensing performance at a lower operating temperature (200 °C); however, even though their response time was only a few minutes, their recovery was slow (up to a few hours) and incomplete.