FORMULATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF ZNO-SB THICK-FILM GAS SENSORS

ZnO:Sb based screen printed thick-film H-2, CO and CH4 gas sensors wer e fabricated. Films were realized on an alumina substrate by mixing Zn O with lead borosilicate glass frits as a binder and Sb as a catalyst. It was observed that the ZnO:Sb based sensors were more sensitive to these gases than the pure ZnO sensors. The conductance of the sensor i ncreased linearly with the square root of the gas concentration. The d ependence of the sensitivity on the amount of the additive (Sb) is dis cussed. The sensors have a response time of 10 a. Material characteriz ation was carried out by using bulk X-ray diffraction (XRD) and surfac e morphology by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). (C) 1998 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.