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Au nanoparticle-modified ZnO/SnO2 heterojunction nanocomposites for highly sensitive detection of NH3

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Abstract

The development of resistive NH3 gas sensor detection technology has important practical significance for environmental protection and human health monitoring. We prepared a novel gas-sensitive nanocomposite of ZnO/SnO2 heterojunction modified by Au nanoparticles by simple synthesis methods including hydrothermal reduction, solvothermal, and wet impregnation. Then, we analyzed the crystallinity, morphology, and elemental composition of the prepared materials by different characterization means, which proved the successful preparation of Au-ZnO/SnO2 materials. We tested the response performance of the prepared sensor to NH3, and the Au-ZnO/SnO2-2 (Zn/Sn = 0.3wt%) sensor has the best performance. Its response value to 100 ppm NH3 can be up to 11 at the optimal temperature 240 °C, which is about 8 times better performance than the unmodified SnO2 sensor. In addition, it has fast response and recovery performance (1 min/13 min), good repeatability, long-term stability and selectivity. Finally, we analyzed the high sensing properties of Au-ZnO/SnO2-2 materials, which can be attributed to the construction of heterojunction promoting electron transfer and the successful modification of Au nanoparticles increasing the adsorption site.

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All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article and its supplementary information files. It will be made available on request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors sincerely acknowledge financially support by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21872102 and 22172080).

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21872102 and 22172080).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nankai University, Tianjin, 300350, China

    Qiuya Liu, Ran Zhao, Hong Zhan, Yingnan Duan & Zhurui Shen

  2. Neurology Department of Tianjin First Central Hospital, Tianjin, 300384, China

    Yang Song

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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by QL, RZ, HZ, and YS. The first draft of the manuscript was written by QL and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Yang Song, Yingnan Duan or Zhurui Shen.

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Liu, Q., Zhao, R., Zhan, H. et al. Au nanoparticle-modified ZnO/SnO2 heterojunction nanocomposites for highly sensitive detection of NH3. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 35, 626 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-024-12398-7

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