Effect of copper concentration on ethanol sensing performance of Cu-stilbite thick film sensor

Abstract

Abstract The present study deals with natural stilbite zeolite commonly named as Ca-stilbite. Ion exchange process is carried out for partial exchange of calcium ions by copper ions. Ion exchanged stilbite is characterized by different spectroscopic techniques as XRD, FTIR and EDS techniques. Thick films are deposited on pre-cleaned glass substrates using screen printing technique. The sintered films are finally used for ethanol detecting. The Ca-stilbite zeolite structure is confirmed by the characterization techniques XRD and FTIR. Incorporation of copper ions in stilbite structure can be confirmed by EDS data. The Cu-stilbite films showed good ethanol detectors. The operating temperature, ethanol response, response/recovery nature are observed to be the functions of concentration of copper ions. Higher the copper concentration (0.2M) lower is the operating temperature (90°C) and higher is the ethanol sensitivity (233). It can be concluded that partial replacement of calcium by copper ions in stilbite leads to change in operating temperature and sensitivity.