Structural, Optical and Topographical Properties of Spray Deposited CeO2 Thin Film for Vapour Sensor Application

Thin film science has received tremendous attention in recent years because of numerous applications. CeO2 thin films with 0.1 molar concentration is prepared on glass substrate at 230°C using hepta hydrate cerium chloride (CeCl3.7H2O) solution. The aim of the present work is to investigate the structural, topographical, optical and sensing properties by XRD, AFM, UV and Chemiresistive gas sensing methods. XRD analysis revealed that the film is well crystallized in nature having cubic fluorite structure with a grain orientation along (220) plane. An average transmittance of 60% was observed in the visible region. AFM study shows that the particles are in agglomerate. The highest sensitivity 35% of the CeO2 gas sensor occur at 30 ppm concentration of NH3.