A sol-gel synthesis and gas-sensing properties of finely dispersed ZrTiO4

Abstract The transparent titanium-zirconium-containing gel was obtained using heteroligand coordination compounds (namely, alkoxoacetylacetonates) as the precursors. The high-dispersive system “ZrTiO 4 – carbon”, formed after drying of such gel and carbonization of the obtained xerogel, was used to study the evolution of microstructure for the product (ZrTiO 4 ) during thermal treatment in air for 1 hour in the temperature range from 500oC to 1000oС. It was stated that the formation of crystalline phase occurred in the narrow range 690-730oС. The thermal treatment at 500oC and 600oС allowed obtaining micro- and mesoporous X-ray amorphous products of the composition ZrTiO 4 , with the specific surface area falling in the range 82-150 m 2 /g. At the higher temperatures the single-phase nanocrystalline powder was prepared (the specific surface area amounted to 2.5-15 m 2 /g). Particle coarsening took place more extensively at temperatures ≥700oС was shown. For the ZrTiO 4 nanopowder crystallized under the mildest conditions at the temperature of 700 ° C, chemoresistive gas-sensitive properties were studied for the first time. The material showed a high reproducible response at 1–20% O 2 and 200–10,000 ppm H 2 at a relatively low detection operating temperature of 450 ° C.