On the improvement of Ethanol sensing by Co3O4 loaded SnO2 nanoparticles

Undoped and Co₃O₄-loaded (5, 10, and 15 at.%) SnO₂ nanoparticles were prepared by a simple co-precipitation method. X-ray diffraction (XRD) study confirmed the presence of tetragonal phase of SnO₂ and cubic stage of Co₃O₄ in accumulation to this the preferred orientation and texture coefficient were derived. The texture coefficient of (200) plane increases with parallel decrease in (110) plane, which indicate the development of voids like vacancies along (110) direction. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analyses recognized the uniform dispersion of spherical shaped nanoparticles. EDS analysis confirmed the impurity absence in the prepared samples. UV-Vis absorption analysis confirmed that the optical band gap will get red shifted from bulk which is due to the agglomeration of nanoparticles and also due to the influences of Co₃O₄. The absorption peaks broa