Development and characterisation of palladium doped tin oxide thick film paste for gas sensors

This paper describes the development of palladium doped tin oxide thick film paste using indigenously available chemicals. Tin oxide powder is prepared by white precipitated method. Subsequently antimony oxide (10%) by weight is mixed with tin oxide powder in a ball mill for one hour, followed by the doping of palladium (1%) by weight to the mixture. After that the mixture is calcined at 800 degrees C for an hour. To get the suitable paste, the proper composition of glass frit, tin oxide powder and fluidising agent are optimized. The developed paste has been used for the fabrication of gas sensor. The response of the sensor for propanol, methanol and acetone has been studied. The electrical properties of the film is found to be dependent on the relative proportion of tin oxide and palladium chloride. Also the sensing mechanism of tin oxide sensor has been studied.