Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Controlled synthesis of urchin-like ZnSnO3/α-Fe2O3 hierarchical hollow microspheres with enhanced acetone gas sensing properties

  • Published:
Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Acetone, as one of the volatile organic compounds, is harmful to human health. Thus, fast detection at an early stage plays a vital role. ZnSnO3 shows the merit for a wide range responsivity to VOCs, but the pure ZnSnO3 has slow response-recovery speeds. Herein, the sensors based on urchin-like ZnSnO3/α-Fe2O3 hierarchical hollow microspheres were synthesized by a simple two-step liquid-phase reaction. Porous α-Fe2O3 nanowires with lengths of about 30 nm and diameters of around 2.5 nm were densely anchored on the surface of ZnSnO3 microspheres, forming “urchin-like” geometries, which increased the specific surface area and supplied more active sites for the fast adsorption–desorption of gas molecules. An excellent gas sensing response value (14.24) and ultra-fast response-recovery times (3/8 s) have been recorded in as-obtained urchin-like ZnSnO3/α-Fe2O3 composite sensors at 200 °C. Compared with the pure ZnSnO3 and α-Fe2O3 sensors, the ZnSnO3/α-Fe2O3 sensor displayed an obvious enhancement in gas sensing properties for acetone, which can be put down to high surface area, porous nanostructure, and the synergistic effect of ZnSnO3 and α-Fe2O3.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. D.R. Miller, S.A. Akbar, P.A. Morris, Nanoscale metal oxide-based heterojunctions for gas sensing: a review. Sens. Actuators B 204, 250–272 (2014)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. X.H. Jia, C.D. Cheng, S.W. Yu, J. Yang, Y. Li, H.J. Song, Preparation and enhanced acetone sensing properties of flower-like α-Fe2O3/multi-walled carbon nanotube nanocomposites. Sens. Actuators B 300, 127012 (2019)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. P. Sun, X. Zhou, C. Wang, K. Shimanoe, Hollow SnO2/a-Fe2O3 spheres with a double-shell structure for gas sensors. J. Mater. Chem. A 2, 1302–1308 (2014)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. C. Di Natale, R. Paolesse, E. Martinelli, R. Capuano, Solid-state gas sensors for breath analysis: a review. Anal. Chim. Acta 824, 1–17 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Y. Xie, R. Xing, Q. Li, L. Xu, H. Song, Three-dimensional ordered ZnO-CuO inverse opals toward low concentration acetone detection for exhaled breath sensing. Sens. Actuators B 211, 255–262 (2015)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. A. Katoch, Z.U. Abideen, J.H. Kim, S.S. Kim, Influence of hollowness variation on the gas-sensing properties of ZnO hollow nanofibers. Sens. Actuators B 232, 698–704 (2016)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. J.H. Kim, A. Mirzaei, H.W. Kim, S.S. Kim, Low voltage driven sensors based on ZnO nanowires for room temperature detection of NO2 and CO gases. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 11, 27 (2019)

    Google Scholar 

  8. X.Y. Kou, N. Xie, F. Chen, T.S. Wang, L.L. Guo, C. Wang, Q.J. Wang, J. Ma, Y.F. Sun, H. Zhang, G.Y. Lu, Superior acetone gas sensor based on electrospun SnO2 nanofibers by Rh doping. Sens. Actuators B 256, 861–869 (2018)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. A.M. Al-Enizi, M. Naushad, A.H. Al-Muhtaseb, S.M. Ruksana, Z.A. Alshehri, T. Ahamad Alothman, Synthesis and characterization of highly selective and sensitive Sn/SnO2/N-doped carbon nanocomposite (Sn/SnO2@NGC) for sensing toxic NH3 gas. Chem. Eng. J. 345, 58–66 (2018)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. S.D. Zhang, M.J. Yang, K.Y. Liang, A. Turak, B.X. Zhang, D. Meng, C.X. Wang, F.D. Qu, W.L. Cheng, M.H. Yang, A acetone gas sensor based on nanosized Pt-loaded Fe2O3 nanocubes. Sens. Actuators B 290, 59–67 (2019)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. X.H. Jia, C.D. Cheng, S.P. Feng, X.J. Yu, L.X. Xia, H.J. Song, Hierarchical porous nanorod@core-shell α-Fe2O3/TiO2 microspheres: synthesis, characterization, and gas-sensing applications. Appl. Surf. Sci. 481, 1001–1010 (2019)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. L.Y. Zhu, K.P. Yuan, J.G. Yang, H.P. Ma, T. Wang, X.M. Ji, J.J. Feng, A. Devi, H.L. Lu, Fabrication of heterostructured p-CuO/n-SnO2 core-shell nanowires for enhanced sensitive and selective formaldehyde detection. Sens. Actuators B 290, 233–241 (2019)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. X.H. Jia, M.G. Tian, R.R. Dai, D.D. Lian, S. Han, X.Y. Wu, H.J. Song, One-pot template-free synthesis and highly gas sensing properties of ZnSnO3 hollow microspheres. Sens. Actuators B 240, 376–385 (2017)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Q. Chen, S. Ma, H. Jiao, G. Zhang, H. Chen, X. Xu, H. Yang, Z. Qiang, Synthesis of novel ZnSnO3 hollow polyhedrons with open nanoholes: enhanced acetone-sensing performance. Ceram. Int. 43, 1617–1621 (2017)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. J.R. Huang, X.J. Xu, C.P. Gu, W.Z. Wang, B.Y. Geng, Y.F. Sun, J.H. Liu, Size-controlled synthesis of porous ZnSnO3 cubes and their gas-sensing and photocatalysis properties. Sens. Actuators B 171–172, 572–579 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Y. Chen, L. Yu, Q. Li, Y. Wu, Q.H. Li, T.H. Wang, An evolution from 3D face-centered-cubic ZnSnO3 nanocubes to 2D orthorhombic ZnSnO3 nanosheets with excellent gas sensing performance. Nanotechnology 23, 415501 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. F. Khan, S. Baek, J.H. Kim, Influence of oxygen vacancies on surface charge potential and transportation properties of Al-doped ZnO nanostructures produced via atomic layer deposition. J. Alloys Compd. 709, 819–828 (2017)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Y. Chen, H. Li, Q. Ma, Q. Che, J. Wang, G. Wang, P. Yang, Morphology-controlled porous α-Fe2O3/SnO2 nanorods with uniform surface heterostructures and their enhanced acetone gas-sensing properties. Mater. Lett. 211, 212–215 (2018)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. F. Ren, L.P. Gao, Y.W. Yuan, Y. Zhang, A. Alqrni, O.M. Al-Dossary, J.Q. Xu, Enhanced BTEX gas-sensing performance of CuO/SnO2 composite. Sens. Actuators B 223, 914–920 (2016)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. D.D. Lian, B. Shi, R.R. Dai, X.H. Jia, X.Y. Wu, Synthesis and enhanced acetone gas-sensing performance of ZnSnO3/SnO2 hollow urchin nanostructures. J. Nanopart. Res. 19, 401 (2017)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Y. Yao, M. Yin, J. Yan, D. Yang, S.Z. Liu, Controllable synthesis of Ag-WO3 core-shell nanospheres for light-enhanced gas sensors. Sens. Actuators B 251, 583–589 (2017)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. S. Bai, Y. Tian, Y. Zhao, H. Fu, P. Tang, R. Luo, D. Li, A. Chen, C. Liu, Construction of NiO@ZnSnO3, hierarchical microspheres decorated with NiO nanosheets for formaldehyde sensing. Sens. Actuators B 259, 908–916 (2017)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. J.H. Sun, S.L. Bai, Y. Tian, Y.H. Zhao, N. Han, R.X. Luo, D.Q. Li, A.F. Chen, Hybridization of ZnSnO3 and rGO for improvement of formaldehyde sensing properties. Sens. Actuators B 257, 29–36 (2018)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Y. Yan, J. Liu, H. Zhang, D. Song, J. Li, P. Yang, M. Zhang, J. Wang, One-pot synthesis of cubic ZnSnO3/ZnO heterostructure composite and enhanced gas-sensing performance. J. Alloys Compd. 780, 193–201 (2019)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. X.H. Jia, X.J. Yu, L.X. Xia, Y.L. Sun, H.J. Song, Synthesis and characterization of Ag/α-Fe2O3 microspheres and their application to highly sensitive and selective detection of ethanol. Appl. Surf. Sci. 462, 29–37 (2018)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. M.Q. Li, B. Li, F.L. Meng, J.Y. Liu, Z.Y. Yuan, C. Wang, J.H. Liu, Highly sensitive and selective butanol sensors using the intermediate state nanocomposites converted from β-FeOOH to α-Fe2O3. Sens. Actuators B 273, 543–551 (2018)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. R.V. Jagadeesh, A.E. Surkus, H. Junge, M.M. Pohl, J. Radnik, J. Rabeah, H. Huan, V. Schünemann, A. Brückner, M. Beller, Nanoscale Fe2O3-based catalysts for selective hydrogenation of nitroarenes to anilines. Science 342, 1073–1076 (2013)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. H.M. Gong, C.H. Zhao, G.Q. Niu, W. Zhang, F. Wang, Construction of 1D/2D α-Fe2O3/SnO2 hybrid nanoarrays for sub-ppm acetone detection. Research 2020, 2196063 (2020)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. F. Zhang, H. Yang, X. Xie, L. Li, L. Zhang, J. Yu, H. Zhao, B. Liu, Controlled synthesis and gas-sensing properties of hollow sea urchin-like α-Fe2O3 nanostructures and α-Fe2O3 nanocubes. Sens. Actuators B 141, 381–389 (2009)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. R. Kim, J.S. Jang, D.H. Kim, J.Y. Kang, H.J. Cho, Y.J. Jeong, I.D. Kim, A general synthesis of crumpled metal oxide nanosheets as superior chemiresistive sensing layers. Adv. Funct. Mater. 29, 1903128 (2019)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Q.Z. Zeng, S.Y. Ma, W.X. Jin, H.M. Yang, H. Chen, Q. Ge, L. Ma, Hydrothermal synthesis of monodisperse α-Fe2O3 hollow microspheroids and their high gas-sensing properties. J. Alloys Compd. 705, 427–437 (2017)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  32. J. Yang, J. Liu, Y. Xu, X. Li, J. Wu, Y. Han, Z. Wang, X. Zhang, Enhanced selective acetone-sensing performance of hierarchical hollow SnO2/α-Fe2O3 microcubes. J. Mater. Chem. C 7, 11984–11990 (2019)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  33. J.Y. Liu, T.S. Wang, B.Q. Wang, P. Sun, Q.Y. Yang, X.S. Liang, H.W. Song, G.Y. Lu, Highly sensitive and low detection limit of ethanol gas sensor based on hollow ZnO/SnO2 spheres composite material. Sens. Actuators B 245, 551–559 (2017)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  34. S. Liu, S. Gao, Z. Wang, T. Fei, T. Zhang, Oxygen vacancy modulation of commercial SnO2 by an organometallic chemistry-assisted strategy for boosting acetone sensing performances. Sens. Actuators B 290, 493–502 (2019)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  35. P. Rai, J.W. Yoon, H.M. Jeong, S.J. Hwanget, C.H. Kwak, J.H. Lee, Design of highly sensitive and selective Au@NiO yolk-shell nanoreactors for gas sensor applications. Nanoscale 6, 8292 (2014)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  36. Y. Jian, W. Hu, Z. Zhao, P. Cheng, H. Haick, M. Yao, W. Wu, Gas sensors based on chemi-resistive hybrid functional nanomaterials. Nano-micro Lett. 12, 1–43 (2020)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Q. Chen, Y. Wang, M. Wang, S. Ma, P. Wang, G. Zhang, W. Chen, H. Jiao, L. Liu, X. Xu, Enhanced acetone sensor based on Au functionalized In-doped ZnSnO3 nanofibers synthesized by electrospinning method. J. Colloid Interface Sci. 543, 285–299 (2019)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  38. H.J. Song, S.W. Yan, Y.L. Yao, L.X. Xia, X.H. Jia, J.S. Xu, 3D α-Fe2O3 nanorods arrays@graphene oxide nanosheets as sensing materials for improved gas sensitivity. Chem. Eng. J. 370, 1331–1340 (2019)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  39. L.L. Guo, X.Y. Kou, M.D. Ding, C. Wang, L.L. Dong, H. Zhang, C.H. Feng, Y.F. Sun, Y. Gao, P. Sun, G.Y. Lu, Reduced graphene oxide/α-Fe2O3 composite nanofibers for application in gas sensors. Sens. Actuators B 244, 233–242 (2017)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  40. P. Sun, Y. Sun, J. Ma, L. You, G. Lu, W. Fu, M. Li, H. Yang, Synthesis of novel SnO2/ZnSnO3 core-shell microspheres and their gas sensing properities. Sens. Actuators B 155, 606–611 (2011)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 51875330, 51975342) and the National Science Foundation of Shaanxi Province (Nos. 2018JZ5003, 2019JZ-24).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Materials Science & Engineering, Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Green Preparation and Functionalization for Inorganic Materials, Shaanxi University of Science & Technology, Xi’an, Shaanxi, 710021, People’s Republic of China

    Jintao Zhang, Xiaohua Jia, Dandan Lian, Jin Yang & Haojie Song

Authors
  1. Jintao Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Xiaohua Jia
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Dandan Lian
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Jin Yang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Haojie Song
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Xiaohua Jia or Haojie Song.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Zhang, J., Jia, X., Lian, D. et al. Controlled synthesis of urchin-like ZnSnO3/α-Fe2O3 hierarchical hollow microspheres with enhanced acetone gas sensing properties. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 31, 15446–15455 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-020-04107-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-020-04107-x

Search

Navigation