Studies on Synthesis and Sensing Characteristics of Nanocrystalline HoFeO3

To develop gas sensing materials with high performance，high sensitivity，excellent selectivity and quick response & recovery behavior，nanocrystalline material of rare-earth composite oxide HoFeO3 with the structure of perovskite type was synthesized by sol-gel method in the system of citric acid with the Ho2O3，Fe（NO3）3·9H2O，nitric acid（1: 1 vloume fraction）as the starting materials. The structure and crystal state of the powder were determined on an X-ray diffractometer（Germany Bluker D8-Advance）with a Cu K" radiation（wavelength λ = 0. 15406 nm）operating at 20 mA and 40 kV. The shape and size were analyzed with the help of JEM-100SX Transimission electron microscopy. The results show this perovskite-type oxide is spherical with the mean grain size of 25 nm and the dispersity of it is good. The influence of temperature on the sensitivity of sensors，gas sensors's selectivity and the response and recovery characteristics are tested at the optimum working temperature 310℃. The study of sensor's gas sensing characteristic shows that the sensitivities of HoFeO3 to 0. 5! C2H5OH is 103，which is 5 times of other tested gases，such as H2S、H2、SO2、gasoline and acetone. So the sensors based on HoFeO3 show good sensitivity and selectivity to C2H5OH. The response and reversion characteristic of sensor to 0. 5! ethanol at 310℃ is good too. The response time and recovery time are 12 and 7s，respectively.