Sensitive and fast response ethanol chemical sensor based on as-grown Gd2O3 nanostructures

• Published in: Journal of rare earths Vol. 33; no. 2; pp. 214 - 220
• Main Authors: Abdullah, M.M., Rahman, Mohammed M., Bouzid, Houcine, Faisal, M., Khan, Sher Bahadar, Al-Sayari, S.A., Ismail, Adel A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01.02.2015
• Subjects: chemical sensing; ethanol; Gd2O3; growth; I-V technique; nanostructures; rare earths; 乙醇; 化学传感器; 快速响应; 敏感; 检测效率; 氧化钆; 生长; 纳米结构; I-V technique; growth; chemical sensing; nanostructures; ethanol; Gd2O3; rare earths
• ISSN: 1002-0721; 2509-4963
• DOI: 10.1016/S1002-0721(14)60405-1

Well crystalline gadolinium oxide（Gd2O3） nanostructures were grown by annealing the hydrothermally as-prepared nanostructures without using any template. Microscopic studies of Gd2O3 nanostructures were recorded along the [111] direction due to the clearly resolved interplanar distance d（222）-0.31 nm of the cubic crystal structure Gd2O3. Sensing mechanism of Gd2O3 as efficient electron mediator for the detection of ethanol was explored. As-fabricated sensor demonstrated the high-sensitivity of -0.266 μAm/M/cm2 with low detection limit（-52.2 μmol/L） and correlation coefficient（r^2, 0.618）. To the best of our knowledge, this was the first report for the detection of ethanol using as-grown（at 1000 oC） Gd2O3 nanostructures by simple and reliable Ⅰ-Ⅴ technique and rapid assessment of the reaction kinetics（in the order of seconds）. The low cost of the starting reagents and the simplicity of the synthetic route made it a promising chemical sensor for the detection of various toxic analytes, which are not environmentally safe.