A novel antimony-carbon nanotube-tin oxide thin film: Carbon nanotubes as growth guider and energy buffer. Application for indoor air pollutants gas sensor

摘要

A novel antimony-carbon nanotube-tin oxide (Sb-CNT-SnO2) thin film using carbon nanotubes (CNTs) as growth guider and energy buffer was fabricated via the sol-gel method and ultrasonic dispersion technique, which could be potentially applied as a gas sensor for detecting indoor air pollutants emitted from building and decoration materials. The Sb-CNT-SnO2 thin film shows higher sensitivity and shorter response time than the pure SnO2 thin film and the Sb-SnO2 thin film according to the gas sensing measurement. The possible mechanism of the better sensing performance has been primarily discussed from the aspects of growth guiding and energy buffering effects caused by CNTs. Furthermore, the electric field on the surface of SbCNT-SnO2 thin film is proposed as the reason for rapid response to polar gases, e.g., formaldehyde, ammonia, and toluene.