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Facile synthesis of Au-decorated α-Fe2O3/rGO ternary hybrid structure nanocomposites for enhanced triethylamine gas-sensing properties

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Abstract

The preparation of hybrid nanostructures is vitally important to both basic research and actual applications. In this work, a novel hybrid structure of ternary α-Fe2O3/rGO/Au nanocomposites was favorably fabricated though a facile two-step hydrothermal route and subsequent in-situ reducing procedure. The characterization results indicated that the Au nanoparticles with sizes of 20–30 nm were modified on α-Fe2O3 nanocubes with a size range of 180–230 nm and were homogeneously anchored on the appearance of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) sheets. Gas-sensing test results demonstrated that the ternary hybrid structure exhibited improved triethylamine (TEA)-sensing performances such as the highest response (43.6–100 ppm TEA), fast response/recovery rate (5/7 s), and better selectivity (ethanol, ammonia, methanol, formaldehyde, trimethylamine, acetone). This work is expected to propose beneficial reference for the development of complex ternary nanocomposites for TEA detection in the future.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 61102006) and Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province, China (Nos. ZR2018LE006 and ZR2015EM019).

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Correspondence to Peng Song or Qi Wang.

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Liu, M., Song, P., Zhong, X. et al. Facile synthesis of Au-decorated α-Fe2O3/rGO ternary hybrid structure nanocomposites for enhanced triethylamine gas-sensing properties. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 31, 22713–22726 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-020-04796-4

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