Nanocomposites and nanomaterials

Platinum containing semiconductor nanomaterials based on SnO2 with Pt-additives to analyze concentration of CH4 in air
Matushko I.P., Fedorenko G.V., Oleksenko L.P., Maksymovych N.P.
Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Volodymyrska Street, 64/13, Kyiv-01601, Ukraine.
E-mail: mipigor@gmail.com

Development of new nanosized materials with specified properties is crucially needed for progress in modern technologies. In particular, syntheses of these materials are required for application in leakage detection of explosive gases widely using in industry and households. Among them one of the most important gases is methane. To analyze CH4 in air nanosized semiconductor gas sensitive materials Pt/SnO2 were obtained by using a sol-gel route and sensors on their base were created. The nanoscale nature of semiconductor particles in Pt/SnO2 materials and aggregation of platinum clusters for the Pt/SnO2 materials with large platinum loading were confirmed by the X-ray diffraction method (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) data. The use of the synthesized SnO2 allows to create the highly sensitive adsorption semiconductor sensors to methane. It was established that platinum addition to the gas sensitive materials significantly increases both the response to methane and catalytic activity in the CH4 oxidation reaction. The highest response to methane was found to be 9.7 for the sensors based on 1.76 wt.% Pt in SnO2 at operation temperature 325 oC. The catalytic activity increases with increase in amount of introduced Pt but the sensor response dependence on the platinum content is extremal. This inconsistence was explained by a role of Pt-SnO2 interface in the process of the sensor signal formation.