MXene/SnO2 heterojunction based chemical gas sensors

Abstract

Two dimensional (2D) MXene decorated by the SnO2 nanoparticles has been successfully synthesized by the hydrothermal method. The formed MXene/SnO2 heterojunction based chemirestistive-type sensors exhibit an excellent sensitivity and selectivity to different concentrations of NH3 from 0.5 to 100 ppm at room temperature. The enhanced sensing properties can be attributed to two major factors. On one hand, 2D MXene provides a matrix which has a unique, selective adsorption ability to ammonia and good conductivity that makes the room-temperature sensing of the heterojunction based sensor feasible. On the other hand, the difference in the Fermi level of the 2D MXene and SnO2 drives the charge transfer at the interface of the heterojunctions enriching the electrons on the surface region of SnO2 and consequently enhancing the sensitivity. Furthermore, a wireless sensor made from an inductor-capacitor (LC) antenna and the as-synthesized MXene/SnO2 heterojunctions fabricated by the low-temperature-cofired ceramic technique (LTCC) was preliminary investigated. The wireless sensor shows a even faster response/recovery speeds (<30 s) and more stable response to different concentrations of ammonia when the response was expressed in the mode of resonant frequency indicating a promising practical application.