Detection of low concentration acetone utilizing semiconductor gas sensor

Abstract

Acetone gas sensor plays a key role in air monitoring and non-invasive diagnosis of diabetes. In the present study, two different types of SnO2 semiconductor gas sensors have been fabricated to detect trace acetone. These gas sensors include mesoporous SnO2 sensor synthesized via nanocasting approach using the hard template of mesoporous SBA-15 and bulk SnO2 nanoparticles sensor synthesized by chemical precipitation method. The acetone sensing properties of the SnO2 sensors were evaluated, and the sensing mechanism of the mesoporous SnO2 sensor was proposed. The mesoporous SnO2 sensors achieve higher sensing response to acetone than the bulk SnO2 nanoparticles sensor. Moreover, the mesoporous SnO2 sensor could detect as low as 0.5 ppm acetone and exhibit high selectivity to acetone. Results demonstrate that high surface area and ordered mesoporous SnO2 sensor can considerably enhance the sensing properties to acetone. Therefore, the ordered mesoporous SnO2 sensor provides a robust candidate for trace acetone detection.