Facile synthesis of Pr-doped In2O3 nanoparticles and their high gas sensing performance for ethanol

• Published in: Sensors and actuators. B, Chemical Vol. 305; p. 127377
• Main Authors: Ma, Zhi-Hong, Yu, Rui-Tao, Song, Ji-Ming
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Lausanne Elsevier B.V 15.02.2020; Elsevier Science Ltd
• Subjects: Acetone; Ammonia; Benzene; Detection; Ethanol; Gas sensors; Gases; In2O3; Indium oxides; Morphology; Nanoparticles; Operating temperature; Performance enhancement; Photoelectrons; Pr-doping; Recovery time; Response time; Selectivity; Sensors; Solvothermal route; X ray powder diffraction; Solvothermal route; Sensors; Ethanol; In2O3; Pr-doping
• ISSN: 0925-4005; 1873-3077
• DOI: 10.1016/j.snb.2019.127377

•Pr-doped In2O3 nanoparticles with diameter size of ca.10 nm have successfully been obtained via one step solvothermal method.•The 3 mol% Pr-doped In2O3 nanoparticles based gas sensor displayed an enhancement of sensing performance to ethanol in comparison to In2O3, which reached to sensitivity value of 106 at optimum working temperature of 240 °C for 50 ppm ethanol. Excellent sensing performance of a gas sensor includes high responsiveness, good selectivity, short recovery time and relatively mild operating temperature; doping is one of the efficient means to improve the performance of gas sensor. Herein, Pr-doped In2O3 nanoparticles were synthesized using ethanol as solvent by one step solvothermal method. The morphology and structure of the samples were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The result indicated that the as-obtained Pr-doped In2O3 nanoparticles with a diameter ca. 10 nm and the specific surface area was 65.38 m2/g. Interestingly, the 3 mol% Pr-doped In2O3 nanoparticles based sensor had efficient sensing performance for ethanol with a response value (106 at 50 ppm), a response time was 16.2 s, and a recovery time was 10 s at 240℃, and these properties could maintain long-term stability. In addition, we found that the above sensor had good selectivity for ethanol by detecting including ethanol the six gases, such as formaldehyde, methanol, acetone, benzene and ammonia.