Writers: Luís F. da Silvaa, J.-C. M’Pekob, Ariadne C. Catto, Sandrine Bernardini,Valmor R. Mastelaro, Khalifa Aguir, Caue Ribeiro, Elson Longo
Keywords: Hydrothermal; Heterojunction; ZnO; SnO2; UV light; Ozone sensor
Abstract: The sensitivity of ZnO-SnO2 heterojunctions to ozone gas was investigated in this work, the two-phase materials of which were prepared via a hydrothermal route, resulting in nanocomposites in which the formation of heterojunctions was confirmed by microscopy analyses. While the sensing effectiveness of these materials is currently verified for application above 150◦C, these temperatures are here drastically reduced to room temperature by considering sensing activity under continuous UV irradiation, evenfor ozone concentrations as low as 20 ppb. This approach resulted in a fast sensing response, a shortrecovery time and a good selectivity compared to other gases, demonstrating a great potential of suchheterojunctions for applications in environmental monitoring devices.
