Fabrication and comprehensive experimental evaluation of surfactant-activated PEDOT:PSS/SnO thin films deposited via spin coating for advanced sensing applications.

This research investigates the fabrication of surfactant-mixed tin oxide (SnO) nanostructured thin films on a fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) substrate via hydrothermal synthesis, focusing on their structural, morphological, optical, and electrical properties for sensor applications. To examine the effect of surfactant concentration, cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) was incorporated at varying weight percentages (0%, 6%, 11%, 16%, and 20%), resulting in five distinct sensor samples, labelled SnO-1, SnO-2, SnO-3, SnO-4, and SnO-5, respectively. X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) analysis confirms a tunable crystallite size from 12.

CTAB modified SnO PEDOT PSS heterojunction humidity sensor with enhanced sensitivity stability and machine learning evaluation.

This study presents the development of a high-performance resistive humidity sensor based on a cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB)-assisted tin oxide (SnO₂) nanostructured thin film integrated with a Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene): Poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT: PSS)/SnO₂ heterojunction. The sensor design incorporates CTAB at varying weight percentages (0%, 6%, 11%, 16%, and 20%) during the hydrothermal synthesis of SnO₂ to regulate crystal growth, morphology, and surface area. The sample with 20 wt% CTAB (SnO-5) exhibited a flower-like stacked nanostructure, confirmed via field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), which significantly enhanced water molecule adsorption and charge transport pathways.