Study of Surface Acid-Base Properties Of Gas-Sensitive Metal Oxides

Binary (ZnO, Fe2O3) and ternary (ZnFe2O4) gas-sensitive oxide materials are synthesized, and the correlation between their sensitivity to ethanol vapors and the functional chemical composition of the surface is studied by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and adsorption of acid–base indicators. It is found that the sensitivity to ethanol vapors increases with increasing acid sites with pKa = 2.5 and with increasing percentage of surface oxygen of OH/CO3/C–O groups. This correlation is caused by the specific interaction between ethanol molecules and hydroxyl groups on the surface of the oxides.