Ambient temperature selective ammonia gas sensor based on SnO₂-APTES modifications

Mohamad Hijazi (1, 2, 3) , Mathilde Rieu (1, 2, 3) , Valérie Stambouli (4, 1, 2, 3) , Guy Tournier (1, 2, 3) , Jean-Paul Viricelle (1, 2, 3) , Christophe Pijolat (1, 2, 3)

1 SPIN-ENSMSE - Centre Sciences des Processus Industriels et Naturels
2 LGF-ENSMSE - Laboratoire Georges Friedel
3 PTSI-ENSMSE - Département Procédés de Transformations des Solides et Instrumentation
4 LMGP - Laboratoire des matériaux et du génie physique

In order to deal with the well-known lack of selectivity of SnO₂ based gas sensors, the functionalization of SnO₂ was performed. Liquid silanization by 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) was used as an intermediate step, followed by functionalization with molecules bearing acyl chloride with alkyl or ester end functional groups. Modified sensors with APTES, alkyl and ester end functional groups were successfully characterized by Attenuated Total Reflectance-Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR). No response was observed for APTES and alkyl modified SnO₂ sensors to ammonia gas at room temperature while the SnO₂ sensor modified with ester end group was found to be sensitive and selective to ammonia gas at room temperature. This implies that the response is generated by ester functional groups. Working at low temperature is also one of the advantages of these sensors as well as the selectivity with respect to other gases like acetone and ethanol.

Mots clés: APTES; Ammonia gas; Room temperature detection; Functionalization; SnO₂

Domaines: Chimie analytique; Matériaux; Génie des procédés

Mohamad Hijazi, Mathilde Rieu, Valérie Stambouli, Guy Tournier, Jean-Paul Viricelle, et al.. Ambient temperature selective ammonia gas sensor based on SnO₂-APTES modifications. Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical, 2018, 256, pp.440-447. ⟨10.1016/j.snb.2017.10.036⟩. ⟨hal-01618268⟩