Ceramics have excellent properties such as hardness and thermal and chemical stability. Therefore, researchers have studied the use of 3D printing to produce complex shapes in tools and structural applications. The debinding and sintering processes for ceramic composite materials manufactured using digital light processing (DLP) 3D printing technology were studied. The slurry used for DLP 3D printing requires debinding and sintering, as it contains ceramics and binders. Therefore, the debinding and sintering processes were measured by TG-DSC curves, and the changes in material characteristics were evaluated by setting the debinding holding time (4, 5, and 6 h) and sintering temperature (1100, 1200, and 1300 °C) as parameters. After debinding for 6 h, the density of the ceramic sintered at 1300 °C was 1.36 g/cm2; the linear shrinkage was 22.1%/21.6%/28.5% along the x, y, and z axes, respectively; and the bending strength was 8.58 MPa. As a result of this study, we developed an optimized process for the debinding and sintering of ceramics manufactured through the DLP 3D printing process.
Three types of In2O3 nanoparticles decorated with Au, Pd and Pt nanoparticles, respectively, were synthesized by thermal decomposition method, and the effects of metal nanoparticles on their phase, microstructure, chemical state, carrier types were investigated with XRD, SEM/TEM, and XPS. Additionally, sensing properties to CO gas, such as sensitivity, etc., were examined with sensing apparatus. Au-decorated In2O3 nanoparticles exhibited the highest sensitivity to CO gas, with S = 5.59 at a 10 ppm CO gas concentration at 50 °C compared to Pd or Pt-decorated In2O3 nanoparticles. This can be interpreted as a much higher adsorption of oxygen molecules on the In2O3 surface due to the high oxygen vacancies in the In2O3 lattice, which generates an electron depletion region in the outer layer of In2O3 to sharply increase the resistance or the spill-over effect due to Au nanoparticles on In2O3. Au nanoparticles were observed in the TEM images and confirmed by XPS analysis.
In this study, a room-temperature ammonia gas sensor using a ZnO and reduced graphene oxide (rGO) composite is developed. The sensor fabrication involved the innovative application of reverse offset and electrostatic spray deposition (ESD) techniques to create a ZnO/rGO sensing platform. The structural and chemical characteristics of the resulting material were comprehensively analyzed using XRD, FT-IR, FESEM, EDS, and XPS, and rGO reduction was achieved via UV–ozone treatment. Electrical properties were assessed through I–V curves, demonstrating enhanced conductivity due to UV–ozone treatment and improved charge mobility from the formation of a ZnO–rGO heterojunction. Exposure to ammonia gas resulted in increased sensor responsiveness, with longer UV–ozone treatment durations yielding superior sensitivity. Furthermore, response and recovery times were measured, with the 10 min UV–ozone-treated sensor displaying optimal responsiveness. Performance evaluation revealed linear responsiveness to ammonia concentration with a high R2 value. The sensor also exhibited exceptional selectivity for ammonia compared to acetone and CO gases, making it a promising candidate for ammonia gas detection. This study shows the outstanding performance and potential applications of the ZnO/rGO-based ammonia gas sensor, promising significant contributions to the field of gas detection.
This paper reports a high-performance humidity sensor made using a novel cellulose nanofiber (CNF)–silver nanoparticle (AgNP) sensing material. The interdigital electrode pattern was printed via reverse-offset printing using Ag nano-ink, and the sensing layer on the printed interdigitated electrode (IDE) was formed by depositing the CNF-AgNP composite via inkjet printing. The structure and morphology of the CNF-AgNP layer are characterized using ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy, an X-ray diffractometer, field emission scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray analysis, and transmission electron microscopy. The humidity-sensing performance of the prepared sensors is evaluated by measuring the impedance changes under the relative humidity variation between 10 and 90% relative humidity. The CNF-AgNP sensor exhibited very sensitive and fast humidity-sensing responses compared to the CNF sensor. The electrode distance effect and the response and recovery times are investigated. The enhanced humidity-sensing performance is reflected in the increased conductivity of the Ag nanoparticles and the adsorption of free water molecules associated with the porous characteristics of the CNF layer. The CNF-AgNP composite enables the development of highly sensitive, fast-responding, reproducible, flexible, and inexpensive humidity sensors.
13 September 2018 in International Journal of Control, Automation, and Systems
In this study, pure ZnO and Al-doped ZnO(AZO) thin films were coated onto a SiO2 wafer using the electrostatic spray deposition (ESD) process for acetone gas detection under laboratory conditions. Voltage levels were varied to determine the optimal conditions for producing thin films with the highest uniformity. The results indicate that the optimal coating voltage for achieving the highest uniformity of the coated films is 2.9 kV for ZnO and 2.6 kV for AZO. The thin films were produced under these optimal ESD conditions by adjusting the coating time, and gas sensors were fabricated by printing electrodes using a reverse offset process on top of the thin films. Analysis of the sensing response revealed that the AZO-coated gas sensor with a 200 s deposition exhibited the best acetone-sensing ability at 300 °C, with a maximum response of 13.41 at 10 ppm. Furthermore, the fabricated gas sensors effectively detected acetone gas even at a low concentration of 2 ppm, demonstrating high selectivity in comparison to other gases.