Methane (CH_4) gas sensing properties of novel vanadium dioxide (VO_2) nanostructured films is reported for the first time. The single phase nanostructures are synthesized by pulsed dc-magnetron sputtering of V target followed by oxidation in O_2 atmosphere at 550 ^oC. The partial pressure of O_2 is controlled to obtain stoichiometric VO_2 with the samples showing rutile monoclinic crystalline symmetry and regions of rod shaped nano-architectures. These nanostructured films exhibit a reversible semiconductor to metal transition in the temperature range of 60-70 ^oC. Gas sensing experiments are carried out in the temperature span from 25 ^oC to 200 ^oC in presence of CH_4. These experiments reveal that the films respond very well at temperatures as low as 50 ^oC, in the semiconducting state.
@article{arxiv.1509.00203,
title = {Novel single phase vanadium dioxide nanostructured films for methane sensing near room temperature},
author = {A. K. Prasad and S. Amirthapandian and S. Dhara and S. Dash and N. Murali and A. K. Tyagi},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1509.00203},
year = {2015}
}