Synthesis and Fabrication of Alpha Phase Iron Oxide (α-Fe2O3) Nanostructured doped with Ruthenium for Highly Sensitive and Selective Flammable and Toxic Gas Sensor
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2022
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Abstract
The increase in the number of manufacturing industries in recent times had both positive and negative impacts on our environment and human health. The use of heavy-duty machines in manufacturing industries causes the release of flammable and hazardous gases, which affect human health, into the atmosphere. Many research efforts have been focused on detecting and monitoring these gases using metal oxide semiconductor materials. This study investigates the gas sensing performance of ruthenium-doped alpha iron oxide towards flammable and hazardous gases. The chemical precipitation method synthesised the alpha iron oxide doped with a different weight percentage of ruthenium. The samples underwent some characterisation techniques, such as X-ray diffractometry, thermogravimetric analysis, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Brunauer-emmett-teller surface area analysis, scanning electron microscopy, and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, to study certain properties of the material. The sensors were fabricated by using the drop casting method, and the sensors were tested for gas sensing performance at 225 ⁰C operating temperature, towards liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), ethanol, propanol, ammonium (NH3), and hydrogen sulphide (H2S). The pure sample alpha iron oxide (α Fe2O3) was more sensitive to the target gases with the response being 26.01 towards the ammonia gas. The selectivity shift towards LPG while the response decreases upon the addition of different weight percentage of the ruthenium to alpha iron oxide ruthenium was found to be unsuitable as a dopant material in alpha iron oxide for gas sensing applications.
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Dissertation submitted in partial-fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science to the: Faculty of Science, Agriculture and Engineering Department of Physics