Enhanced gas sensing properties of V2O5 nanowires decorated with SnO2 nanoparticles to ethanol at room temperature

摘要

V2O5 nanowires decorated with SnO2 nanoparticles are prepared by two-step mild hydrothermal reaction, and the gas sensor device is fabricated by coating the nanowires as a thick film on the alumina tube. The pure V2O5 nanowires have almost no response to ethanol at room temperature, however, the sensitivity of V2O5 nanowires decorated with SnO2 nanoparticles is 1.46 upon exposure to 1000 ppm ethanol gas. The highest sensitivity of gas sensor based on V2O5 nanowires decorated with SnO2 nanoparticles to 1000 ppm ethanol is about 14, which is 2-3 times of pure V2O5 nanowires. The improved sensing performance of the composite is due to the increased depletion width and active sites along the nanowires, the energy gap between V2O5 nanowires and SnO2 nanoparticles promotes the electrons transport. Moreover, the gas sensor based on V2O5 nanowires decorated with SnO2 nanoparticles possesses a good selectivity to ethanol compared with other gases, such as CO2, H2O and NH3, and the stability of gas sensing performance is quite good, which implies that it would be a good candidate in the potential application.