In this work the low temperature response of metal oxide semiconductor gas sensors is analyzed. Important characteristics of this low-temperature response are a pronounced selectivity to acid- and base-forming gases and a large disparity of response and recovery time constants which often leads to an integrator-type of gas response. We show that this kind of sensor performance is related to the trend of semiconductor gas sensors to adsorb water vapor in multi-layer form and that this ability is sensitively influenced by the surface morphology. In particular we show that surface roughness in the nanometer range enhances desorption of water from multi-layer adsorbates, enabling them to respond more swiftly to changes in the ambient humidity. Further experiments reveal that reactive gases, such as NO₂ and NH₃, which are easily absorbed in the water adsorbate layers, are more easily exchanged across the liquid/air interface when the humidity in the ambient air is high.
Keywords: BET adsorption; SnO2; integrator gas response; low temperature gas response; surface morphology; water vapor.