Hydrothermal synthesis of nanostructured titanium disulfide (TiS₂) for detection of NO₂ gas and its characterization study

In the present work, A transition metal dichalcogenide (Titanium disulfide (TiS₂)) has been synthesized by hydrothermal method with Titanium tetra isopropoxide (Ti (OCH (CH₃)₂)₄) as a source of Titanium (Ti) and Thiourea (NH₂·CS·NH₂) as a source of Sulphur (S) at varying concentrations. The thick films of nano Titanium disulfide (TiS₂) were fabricated by using a screen-printing technique. The structural properties of nanostructured TiS₂ were studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD). The XRD data confirm the hexagonal structure of nanostructured TiS₂ and the crystallite size was observed at 23 nm. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to analyze the morphological properties of the thick film of nanostructured TiS₂ that formed to determine the material's surface properties. The size of the TiS₂ nanoparticles was determined by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The chemical composition of synthesized material was detected by energy dispersive spectroscopy analysis (EDAX). The prepared TiS₂ thick films were tested for various toxic gases such as Nitrogen dioxide (NO₂), Hydrogen sulfide (H₂S), Carbon dioxide (CO₂), Ammonia (NH₃), Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), Ethanol (C₂H₆O) and Methanol (CH₃OH) gases at different gases concentrations and different operating temperatures. The TiS₂ thick film sensor shows the highest sensitivity to NO₂ gas as compared to the other gases at an operating temperature of 160 °C with 600 ppm gas concentration. The prepared TiS₂ thick film sensor shows a rapid response and recovery time.