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Competitive influence of surface area and mesopore size on gas-sensing properties of SnO2 hollow fibers

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Abstract

In this work, the effects of surface area and mesopore size on gas-sensing properties of SnO2 hollow microfibers assembled by nanocrystals were investigated. When the sintering time was increased from 2 to 24 h, the specific surface area (SSA) of SnO2 microfibers decreased from 103.6 to 59.8 m2 g−1, whereas the mesopore diameter gradually increased from 2.8 to 10.9 nm. Interestingly, it was found that their gas-sensing properties to ppb-level formaldehyde were determined by both SSA and mesopore size. The gas response increased firstly and then decreased with decreasing SSA and increasing mesopore size and reached the maximum value when the sintering time was 11 h. When the sintering time was <11 h, mesopore size (<8.5 nm) dominated sensing behavior by controlling gas diffusion rate. Once the sintering time was more than 11 h, the decreased SSA (<70.8 m2 g−1) dominated sensing performance by influencing the surface reaction activity. Therefore, the competitive influence of surface area and mesopore size on gas-sensing properties of mesoporous SnO2 microfibers was revealed. This work could provide a new understanding for microstructural design of the mesoporous gas-sensing metal oxide materials.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (Grant Nos. 2009CB939702 and 2009CB939705) and Nature Science Foundation of China (No. 50772040 and 50927201). Also, this work was supported by Analytical and Testing Center of HUST for carrying out XRD, SEM, and TEM analysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Analytical and Testing Center, Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), No. 1037, Luoyu Road, Wuhan, 430074, People’s Republic of China

    Jinjin Wu

  2. State Key Laboratory of Materials Processing and Die & Mould Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), No. 1037, Luoyu Road, Wuhan, 430074, People’s Republic of China

    Dawen Zeng, Keng Xu, Daoguang Li & Changsheng Xie

  3. State Key Laboratory of Silicate Materials for Architectures, Wuhan University of Technology, No. 122, Luoshi Road, Wuhan, 430070, People’s Republic of China

    Shouqin Tian

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  1. Jinjin Wu
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Correspondence to Dawen Zeng or Changsheng Xie.

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Wu, J., Zeng, D., Tian, S. et al. Competitive influence of surface area and mesopore size on gas-sensing properties of SnO2 hollow fibers. J Mater Sci 50, 7725–7734 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-015-9339-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-015-9339-8

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