Synthesis and remarkable gas sensing performance of biomorphic tubular porous SnO2 templated from sorghum straw

Abstract Biomorphic porous SnO 2 was hydrothermally synthesized at 160 °C and post-calcined at 550 °C using sorghum straw as biotemplate. The as-obtained tubular porous SnO 2 inherited the hierarchical microstructure of sorghum straw with a specific surface area of 28.6 m 2 ·g −1 and exhibits remarkable gas sensing performance. After surface modified by Pt nanoparticles, biomorphic SnO 2 shows excellent low-temperature hydrogen sensing characteristics with a high sensitivity of 18.2 for 200 ppm hydrogen at 50 °C, a short response time of 7 s and excellent selectivity, as a result of the synergism of the unique porous structure of biomorphic SnO 2 and the catalytic activity of the loaded Pt nanoparticles.