Highly Sensitive Ethanol Sensor Based on Au-Decorated SnO2 Nanoparticles Synthesized Through Precipitation and Microwave Irradiation

Gold (Au)-decorated SnO2 nanoparticles (NPs) were synthesized through a precipitation and microwave irradiation process. The as-prepared products were characterized by x-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. The results indicated that the as-prepared products consisted of nanometer-scale tetragonal crystalline SnO2 and face-centered cubic gold metal NPs. The gas sensing measurements showed that the sensor based on Au-decorated SnO2 NPs exhibited an extremely high response (239.5) toward 500-ppm ethanol at a relatively low working temperature (220°C). In addition, the response and recovery times of this sensor to ethanol were 1 s and 31 s, respectively. The excellent gas sensing performance of the synthesized NPs in terms of high response, fast response-recovery, superior selectivity, and good stability was attributed to the small nanometer size of the particles, Schottky barrier, and Au NP catalysis. Finally, we demonstrated that our Au-decorated SnO2 NPs could be a potential candidate for use in highly sensitive and selective gas sensors for ethanol.