LAUSR

Abstract Stability is an important performance indicator for SnO2 gas sensor and is significantly affected by temperature. This paper investigates the effects of temperature during storage and working stages on degradation behaviors of sensors in terms of resistance in air, response time, recovery time and sensitivity. Comparisons of the changes of sensor performance were conducted to identify and understand the differences of the degradation processes between storage and operation stages. The results present that both degradation behaviors and mechanisms differ between under the elevated storage conditions and under the elevated working conditions. The ambient temperature of 80 °C resulted in severely drift on sensor resistance and instability on sensitivity and recovery time due to the surface passivation of SnO2 film. On the contrast, the heating voltage of 5.45 V led to noticeably decrease on sensor resistance but generated relatively stable sensitivity of the SnO2 gas sensors.