Enhanced H2S gas-sensing performance of α-Fe2O3 nanofibers by optimizing process conditions and loading with reduced graphene oxide

Abstract We systematically investigated the effects of process conditions and reduced graphene oxide (RGO) loading on the H2S gas-sensing performance of the α-Fe2O3 nanofibers (NFs) fabricated via on-chip electrospinning. The annealing temperature and precursor solution contents strongly influenced on the morphology and structure of the α-Fe2O3 NFs that accordingly affected on the gas-sensing performance. The optimum process conditions with the annealing temperature of 600 °C and the precursor solution contents of 11 wt% PVA and 4.0 wt% Fe(NO3)3.9H2O led to the α-Fe2O3 NF sensors having a high response of ∼6.1 at 1 ppm H2S gas. The RGO loading further improved the gas response, increasing the response to 1 ppm H2S gas up to ∼9.2. Also, the RGO-loaded α-Fe2O3 NF sensors enhanced their selectivity and detection limit as compared with pure α-Fe2O3 NF sensors. The enhanced gas-sensing performance was attributed to the presence of nanograins, the increase of surface-to-volume ratio and the formation of potential barriers at nanograin homojunctions and RGO/α-Fe2O3 heterojunctions.