La doped BaTiO3 nanostructures for room temperature sensing of NO2/NH3: Focus on La concentration and sensing mechanism

Among all the metal oxide based sensing materials, Barium titanate (BaTiO3) is captivating attention due to its strong ferromagnetic and dielectric properties. Continuing the interest, we present gas sensing properties of Lanthanum (La) doped BaTiO3 nanostructures. For this purpose, we demonstrate the in-situ doping of BaTiO3 nanostructures with varied molar concentrations of La and then reveal its effect on their gas-sensing mechanism. The as-prepared La doped BaTiO3 (BaLaTiO3) nanostructures were used as thick films for sensing performance against various interfering gases at operating temperature from RT to 450 degrees C. The thick films of La doped BaTiO3 nanostructures showed strong response for both NO2 and NH3 gases at room temperature. The effect of doping on the mechanism of gas sensing, selectivity and stability of the sensing devices are discussed.