A novel SnO₂ nanostructures and their gas-sensing properties for CO

SnO₂ semiconductor gas sensor as the most commonly sensors are used to check the main fault characteristic of dissolved gases in transformer oil. In current study, SnO₂ rods and spheres were synthesized by the hydrothermal routes with tin salts under different conditions. We investigated the intermediate reaction on the formation of SnO₂ with different morphologies and proposed their possible formation mechanisms. The structures and morphologies of this hierarchical architecture were characterized in detail by means of powder X-ray diffraction, field-emission scanning electron microscopy. Moreover, the obtained SnO₂ rods are found to show the better sensing performances than the other structure with higher gas response during the response-recovery time, lower working temperature, and more sensitive response in the same concentration to carbon monoxide. Our results also illustrate that gas sensing properties of SnO₂ can be significantly improved by varying the morphologies of the structures. The results may hold substantial promise in power system gas-sensing applications.