Nanocrystalline zinc titanate synthesized via physicochemical route and its application as liquefied petroleum gas sensor

Nanocrystalline zinc titanate was synthesized via a simple physicochemical method and studied for its sensing behaviour to liquefied petroleum gas. The surface morphology and structure of the synthesized material were characterized by SEM and XRD analysis respectively. The structural analysis confirmed the formation of ZnTiO3 having an average crystallite size 19 nm with hexagonal structure. Optical properties were investigated using UV-vis absorption spectroscopy and FT-IR spectroscopy. Sensitivity of the sensing material as a function of time and concentration of the gas was estimated. The response and recovery times of sensing pellet were found similar to 120 s and similar to 200 s respectively. Density and porosity of ZnTiO3 were calculated as 4.2 gm/cc and 66% respectively. The activation energy was calculated as 0.43 eV. These experimental results show that ZnTiO3 is a promising material for LPG sensor as comparable to previous reported materials. (c) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.