Morphology varied SrTiO3 supported on MXene (Ti3C2TX) for Gas Sensing Study

Abstract

NO2 (Nitrogen dioxide) is among the most hazardous gases and common air pollutants as declared by the World Health Organization (WHO) which is produced by combustion processes and exhaust fumes of cars. It can cause diseases such as respiratory irritation, emphysema, and bronchitis even at a low concentration [1]. Therefore, the development of ideal gas sensors with high stability, rapidity, repeatability, and sensitivity is desirable. ABO3 type metal oxide perovskite have garnered attention due to their outstanding features. The semiconductor strontium titanate (STO) exhibits good thermal and chemical stability, high dielectric constant, superconductivity, large absorption coefficient with a band gap of 3.2 eV. These properties bestow SrTiO3 excellent potential in gas sensing application [2]. Ti3C2Tx (Mxene) has emerged as an outstanding support material improving the sensing property. They have a unique laminar structure, high surface area, conductivity, and excellent adsorption capability which helps in the ease of charge transfer during the sensing process. Focusing on these characteristics we have synthesized SrTiO3 based on Ti3C2Tx for the sensing of NO2 gas. Moreover, the various morphologies of the SrTiO3 have shown varied results on exposure to the same gas. Therefore, exploring the morphological behaviour of SrTiO3 on the MXene surface for gas sensing studies will give a broader knowledge about the material. It was observed that flower-based morphology gave a response of 63% with a fast response and recovery time. The synthesized material was confirmed by using sophisticated characterization techniques like Powder X-Ray diffraction (PXRD), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Raman Spectroscopy, UV- Visible Spectroscopy (UV-Vis), Scanning Electron microscopy (SEM), Transmission Electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS).