Characterization of Pt-doped SnO2 catalyst for a high-performance micro gas sensor.

The atomic scale structure and its dependence on Pt concentration of a Pt-doped SnO2 (Pt-SnO2) thin film produced by a sputter-deposition method was investigated, which showed high-performance as a methane gas sensor. Extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses showed that Pt-SnO2 has a rutile structure similar to SnO2 crystals at less than 10 at% Pt where the Pt ion was located at the Sn position in the rutile structure. There was no evidence that Pt metal clusters were formed in the Pt-SnO2 films. The Pt-SnO2 structure became amorphous at greater than 11 at% Pt. We found a good correlation between the methane activity and local structure of Pt.