Bimetallic PdRu nanoparticles functionalized SnO2 nanoclusters for trimethylamine detection

Abstract

In this work, we applied PdRu bimetallic to the detection of trimethylamine for the first time. PdRu bimetallic nanoparticles with good dispersibility and a particle size of about 8 nm were prepared by the polyol synthesis method and successfully modified on SnO2 nanoclusters. The structure and morphology of the synthesized materials were characterized, and their gas sensing properties were tested in detail. Among them, 0.2 wt% PdRu-SnO2 showed satisfied selectivity to trimethylamine at 230 ℃, its response (100 ppm 78.3) was 14.5 times higher than that of pure SnO2 (100 ppm 5.4), with a response/recovery time of 10 s/81 s, respectively. The main reason for this phenomenon is that the excellent catalytic performance of PdRu bimetallic nanoparticles significantly increased the oxygen ion concentration on the surface of SnO2, and besides, the formation of a Schottky barrier between PdRu and SnO2 had a positive effect on the sensitivity. The experimental results showed that PdRu bimetallic nanoparticles can sensitize SnO2, which can expand a new idea for the gas detection of trimethylamine.