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Relative humidity (RH) is a critical environmental variable for transportation and storage of products and for the quality guarantee of several other production processes and services. Heterogeneous structures prepared from the selective semiconductor oxides may improve the sensitivity to humidity due to the better electronic and surface properties, when compared to pristine oxides. This work shows an alternative fabrication route for producing titanium dioxide/tungsten trioxide (TiO2/WO3) heterogeneous structures (by electrospinning and sintering) for potential application on the RH detection. The microstructural properties of the materials were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDS), X-ray diffraction, and Raman spectroscopy. The electrical characterization of the structures was performed by electrical impedance spectroscopy in RH range of 10%-100%. Results indicated a p-to n-type conduction transition at around 30%-40% RH for all tested settings. The analysis of the impedance signature to humidity showed that the amount of fiber layers on the electrode and working temperature are important parameters to improve the humidity sensing of the TiO2/WO3 systems.


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TiO2/WO3 heterogeneous structures prepared by electrospinning and sintering steps: Characterization and analysis of the impedance variation to humidity

Show Author's information Evando S. ARAÚJO( )Victor N. S. LEÃO
Research Group on Electrospinning and Nanotechnology Applications (GPEA-Nano), Department of Materials Science, Universidade Federal do Vale do São Francisco, 48902-300, Juazeiro-BA, Brazil

Abstract

Relative humidity (RH) is a critical environmental variable for transportation and storage of products and for the quality guarantee of several other production processes and services. Heterogeneous structures prepared from the selective semiconductor oxides may improve the sensitivity to humidity due to the better electronic and surface properties, when compared to pristine oxides. This work shows an alternative fabrication route for producing titanium dioxide/tungsten trioxide (TiO2/WO3) heterogeneous structures (by electrospinning and sintering) for potential application on the RH detection. The microstructural properties of the materials were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDS), X-ray diffraction, and Raman spectroscopy. The electrical characterization of the structures was performed by electrical impedance spectroscopy in RH range of 10%-100%. Results indicated a p-to n-type conduction transition at around 30%-40% RH for all tested settings. The analysis of the impedance signature to humidity showed that the amount of fiber layers on the electrode and working temperature are important parameters to improve the humidity sensing of the TiO2/WO3 systems.

Keywords: electrospinning, heterogeneous structures, preparation, relative humidity, semiconductors

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Publication history
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Publication history

Received: 06 July 2018
Revised: 25 November 2018
Accepted: 05 December 2018
Published: 13 June 2019
Issue date: June 2019

Copyright

© The author(s) 2019

Acknowledgements

The corresponding author would like to thank Drs. Helinando Oliveira, Pedro Faia, Juliano Libardi, and Pedro Dicesar for the technical support. The authors also acknowledge the financial support from National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq - Brazil, Project 202451/2015-1) and Bahia State Research Foundation (FAPESB, Project 1252/2018).

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