Size-Selective Silver-Induced Evolution of Mn3O~(4-)Ag Nanocomposites for Effective Ethanol Sensing

摘要

Trimanganese tetraoxide (Mn3O4)~1silver (Ag) nanocomposites have been synthesized by seed-mediated growth of manganese oxide by alkaline hydrolysis of manganese precursor on preformed silver nanoparticles at water/n-heptane interface. The morphology of the nanocomposites has been varied by individual addition of five size-selective silver nanoparticles for the evolution of the manganese components. Varieties of spectroscopic and microscopic techniques have been used to characterize these materials. Now, the efficacy of these assynthesized nanocomposites has been demonstrated towards the sensing of various hazardous volatile organic compounds, exhibiting high sensitivity to ethanol compared to other components. Moreover, the structure-function relationship of the Mn3O4-Ag nanocomposites upon variation of the size of silver particles towards the sensory activity of ethanol has been elucidated.