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High-sensitivity and high-selectivity detection of methanol based on La-doped SnO2 sensor

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Abstract

Pure SnO2 and La-doped SnO2 nanocomposite were prepared through hydrothermal method, and their gas sensing performances were studied. Results indicate that the sensing response of the 5 wt% La-doped SnO2 nanocomposite reached 29.5 when exposed to 75 ppm methanol at the optimal operating temperature of 220 °C, which was over seven times larger than that of pure SnO2 nanoparticles. In addition, the response and recovery time were shortened to 12 s and 7 s, respectively. Moreover, the 5 wt% La-doped SnO2 nanocomposite presents a good selectivity toward methanol among methanal, methanol, ammonia, acetone and benzene gases. The improvement in the gas sensing properties of the 5 wt% La-doped SnO2 nanocomposite toward methanol can be attributed to the smaller crystallite size, larger surface area and the modified chemical nature of nanocomposite surface.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to acknowledge the financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Project 51801039), the Natural Science Foundation of Guizhou Province (No. [2016]1070, LKM [2013]18), the Project of Guizhou Minzu University (20185773-YB18), the Projects of Department of Education of Guizhou Province (No. [2015]424, [2016]003, [2017]003), the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (ZR2019QEM003), the Project of Key Technology Research and Development Program of Shandong (2019GSF111048) and the Youth Innovation Team in Shandong Province (2019KJC020).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Guizhou Minzu University, Guiyang, 550025, Guizhou, China

    Yu Chen, Zegang Dong, Xinxin Xue, Yu Lv, Cheng Chen, Yinye Yang, Weifu Cen & Yang Yang

  2. Department of Chemical Engineering and Safety, Binzhou University, Binzhou, 256600, Shandong, China

    Yu Chen

  3. College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Yancheng Institute of Technology, Yancheng, 224051, Jiangsu, China

    Song Chen

  4. Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, 02115, USA

    Avi Natan

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  1. Yu Chen
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  2. Zegang Dong
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Contributions

YY conceived the idea and guided the study. YC conducted the experiment and wrote the manuscript. ZD performed XRD and Raman measurements. XX and SC carried out the XPS and SEM tests. AN polished the manuscript. YL and CC prepared the Nano material samples. YY and WC contributed to the performance test.

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Correspondence to Yang Yang.

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Chen, Y., Dong, Z., Xue, X. et al. High-sensitivity and high-selectivity detection of methanol based on La-doped SnO2 sensor. Appl. Phys. A 126, 299 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-020-03478-6

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