Parallel-solution blow spun Al-SnO2/F-SnO2 fibers as an efficient room temperature ethanol sensor

Abstract

In the last few years, the design of room-temperature gas sensors is in growing demand. This is because high operating temperatures increase power consumption and impose unnecessary risks when working with flammable gases. This article describes the parallel-spinning fabrication of Al–SnO2/F–SnO2 hybrid fibers using the Solution Blow Spinning (SBS) method for room-temperature ethanol sensing application. The structural influence of element doping and the chemical composition/elemental states were studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The 5 at% Al–SnO2/15 at% F–SnO2 composite-based sensor exhibited high sensitivity to ethanol (R = 3.0 at 100 ppm) at room temperature. This sensor also showed short response/recovery times, excellent selectivity, repeatability and long-term stability. More importantly, the sensor based on Al–SnO2/F–SnO2 composite displayed a sensing response 9 times higher than pure SnO2 fibers. These results indicate that the Al–SnO2/F–SnO2 fibers prepared in this work are promising and excellent room temperature sensing materials.