Effect of Sb Doping on Structure and Humidity Sensing Properties of SnO2 Synthesized by Hydrothermal Method

Abstract

AbstractThe tetragonal rutile Sb doped Sn O2 (0, 0.5, 1 at.%) is successfully synthesized by hydrothermal method. The XRD analysis shows that the average crystallite size of SnO2 decreases from 29.59 to 20.53 nm with the increase of the doping concentration. SEM images depict the spherical grain morphology of the SnO2 sample. With the increase of the doping ratio, the optical bandgap value of the SnO2 samples increases from 3.6 to 3.86 eV and then decreases to 3.47 eV, showing a trend of first increasing and then decreasing. XPS results indicate that oxygen vacancy defects and substitutional defects(SbSn)are formed into the SnO2 lattice, which changes the electronic effect of Sn element to tune the oxygen vacancy concentration. The humidity‐sensitive testing data shows that 1 at.% Sb‐doped SnO2 humidity sensor presented excellent sensitivity and linearity at a working frequency of 100 Hz as compared to the pure SnO2 sample.