Preparation and characterization of barium stannate: application as a liquefied petroleum gas sensor

Barium stannate, BaSnO3, an n-type semiconducting oxide with cubic perovskite structure, has been prepared by the thermal decomposition of barium carbonate (BaCO3) and tin tetrahydroxide (Sn(OH)(4)). The material was characterized by various physical techniques such as differential thermal analysis (DTA/TG), X-ray diffraction (XRD), BET surface area, Fourier transform infra-red (FT-IR) spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Of its several applications, this material has proven to be one of the successful candidates for the detection of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). The sensor has a very good selectivity to detect LPG in comparison to other reducing gases, like carbon monoxide and methane. (C) 2001 Kluwer Academic Publishers.