"In2O3-CuO nano-flakes prepared by spray pyrolysis for gas sensing application "

Abstract

"Detection of metal oxide gas sensors depends on the absorbed oxygen which is converted to ion species by trapping electrons from the surface of the material [1]. The change in the resistance of the sensor usually occurs due to the interaction between the target gas with the adsorbed oxygen species, which causes the resistance to change as a signal due to the return or extracted additional electrons from the semiconductor surface [2]. To obtain a sensor of high sensitivity, one must study the mechanism of the interaction between the gas (within the lowest concentration) and the surface of the material then convert this reaction to the equivalent changes in the electrical resistance of the sensor [3]. The ternary compounds copper-indium-oxide are known to be attractive in many fields such as in transparency electrodes [4], photodetectors [5], liquid crystal displays [6]. The green (Cu2In2O5) and black (CuIn2O4) compounds are formed when the CuO interacts with In2O3.[7]. One of the interesting ternary phases is the Cu2In2O5 which crystallized in the orthorhombic system, it is an oxygen-rich phase and can easily be prepared by the solid-state synthesis in the air [8]. "