Construction of C-N/SnO2/Co3O4 microspheres with improvable electronic transmission for enhanced triethylamine gas-sensing performance

• Published in: Physics letters. A Vol. 387; p. 127023
• Main Authors: Li, Hang, Guo, Jia, Chu, Shushu, Li, Hui, Zhang, Qi, Lin, Ziqiong, Ma, Qian
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 28.01.2021
• Subjects: C-N/SnO2/Co3O4; Electrospinning; Microstructure; Sensors; TEA; Electrospinning; TEA; C-N/SnO2/Co3O4; Sensors; Microstructure
• ISSN: 0375-9601; 1873-2429
• DOI: 10.1016/j.physleta.2020.127023

•Tunable C-N/SnO2/Co3O4 microspheres were prepared via an electrospinning route.•The introduction of ZIF-67 affects the composition and gas-sensing property.•C-N/SnO2/Co3O4 microspheres show excellent gas-sensing performance to TEA.•The threshold limit of response can be observed as the exposure to 5 ppm TEA.•Synergistic combination of p-n heterojunction and C-N components was discussed. Composition-tunable C-N/SnO2/Co3O4 microspheres with available gas-sensing behavior were successfully fabricated via a facile electrospinning technology, mainly achieved by different adding amounts of ZIF-67. It is found that both the introduction of C-N components and the formation of p-n heterojunction can effectively accelerate electron transmission and enhance the gas sensitivity properties of the material toward trimethylamine (TEA). The highest response of C-N/SnO2/Co3O4 microspheres can reach up to approximately 154.3, calculated to be 9 times for 50 ppm triethylamine molecules at a temperature of 360 °C than that of C-N/SnO2 microspheres. Moreover, the threshold limit value of gas response can be observed as the exposure to even a concentration of merely 5 ppm TEA, indicating their potential application on detecting TEA released during the decay process of prawn in the low concentration region.