Gas sensitivity properties of TiO2/Ag nanocomposite films prepared by pulse laser deposition

Abstract

In this study, a double frequency Q-switching Nd:YAG laser beam (1064 nm and λ= 532 nm, repetition rate 6 Hz and the pulse duration 10ns) have been used, to deposit TiO2 pure and nanocomposites thin films with noble metal (Ag) at various concentration ratios of (0, 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 wt.%) on glass and p-Si wafer (111) substrates using Pulse Laser Deposition (PLD) technique. Many growth parameters have been considered to specify the optimum condition, namely substrate temperature (300˚C), oxygen pressure (2.8×10-4 mbar), laser energy (700) mJ and the number of laser shots was 400 pulses with thickness of about 170 nm. The surface morphology of the thin films has been studied by using atomic force microscopes (AFM). The Root Mean Square (RMS) value of thin films surface roughness increased with increasing of Ag contents, while the crystallite size was found to decrease with increase in different silver content. The sensitivity toward NO2 and NH3 gas has been measured under different ppm concentrations. TiO2 with noble metal has a sensitivity higher than pure TiO2 where as TiO2 with Ag metal deposited on glass substrate has maximum sensitivity to NO2 gas with a value of ~(50 %) at the nanocomposite 90%TiO2/10%Ag films with best operation temperature at 200 °C. In addition, noble metal like Ag to the titanium dioxide materials makes them sensitive to NO2 gas.