Oxygen-Dependent Photoluminescence and Electrical Conductance of Zinc Tin Oxide (ZTO): A Modified Stern-Volmer Description.

Zinc tin oxide (ZTO) is investigated as a photoluminescent sensor for oxygen (O); chemisorbed oxygen quenches the luminescence intensity. At the same time, ZTO is also studied as a resistive sensor; being an n-type semiconductor, its electrical conductance decreases by adsorption of oxygen. Both phenomena can be exploited for quantitative O sensing. The respective sensor responses can be described by the same modified Stern-Volmer model that distinguishes between accessible and non-accessible luminescence centers or charge carriers, respectively. The impact of the temperature is studied in the range from room temperature up to 150 °C.