Promising Novel Barium Carbonate One-Dimensional Nanostructures and Their Gas Sensing Application: Preparation and Characterization

Abstract

Recently, barium carbonate-based nanomaterials have been used for sensor and catalysis applications. The sensing performance can be improved with a suitable one-dimensional nanostructure. In this regard, novel nanosized BaCO3 materials were fabricated by a one-pot designed thermal evaporation system. Ten milligrams of Ba as raw material were used to deposit BaCO3 nanostructures at a pressure of 0.85 torr and a temperature of 850 °C in a partial oxygen atmosphere of the ambient. This simple method for fabricating novel BaCO3 nanostructures is presented here. X-ray diffraction was indexed on the orthorhombic polycrystalline structure of the prepared BaCO3. The nanostructures deposited here could be described as Datura-like structures linked with nanowires of 20–50 nm in diameter and 5 µm in length. The BaCO3 nanostructure prepared by the current method exhibited a semiconductor-like behavior with an activation energy of 0.68 eV. This behavior was ascribed to the nature of the morphology, which may possess large defective points. Thus, this nanostructure was subjected to gas sensing measurements, showing high activity toward NO2 gas. The proposed sensor also underwent deep investigation toward NO2 at various gas concentrations and working. The response and recovery time constants were recorded in the ranges of 6–20 s and 30–150 s, respectively. The sensor showed its reversibility toward NO2 when the sensor signal was repeated at various cycles of various concentrations. The sensor was exposed to different levels of humidity, showing high performance toward NO2 gas at 250 °C. The sensor exhibited fast response and recovery toward NO2 gas.