Comprehensive study of ammonia gas sensing characteristics of a sputtered InGaSnO thin film decorated with evaporated platinum nanoparticles

Abstract

A new chemoresistive-type gas sensor toward ammonia (NH3) gas has been fabricated and reported. This sensor is mainly based on the synthesis of an InGaSnO (IGTO) thin film and platinum nanoparticles (Pt NPs). The IGTO thin film and Pt NPs are produced by radio frequency (RF) sputtering and thermal evaporation (TE), respectively. Initially, the elemental analysis is employed to study the intrinsic properties. The superior NH3 gas sensing behaviors are observed in the experiments. The Pt NPs play an important role in this experiment which efficiently improve the ammonia sensing performance. A higher sensing response of 556 accompanied with a short response (recovery) time of 13 s (5 s) under 1000 ppm NH3/air gas and a lower detectable level of 25 ppb NH3/air are obtained at 300 degrees C. Moreover, the presented sensor reveals prominent selectivity and the long-term (120 d) durability toward NH3 gas. Therefore, this Pt NP/IGTO sensing device offers the promise for NH3 gas sensing application.