Ultrafine Pt-doped SnO2 mesopore nanofibers-based gas sensor for enhanced acetone sensing

Abstract

There is still an urgent need to develop a highly sensitive semiconductor oxide sensor capable of detecting trace disease biomarkers within the exhaled breath. Here, we propose an electrospinning technique and annealing process to obtain platinum (Pt) nanoparticles doped ultrafine SnO2 mesopore nanofiber. As a result of the strong synergistic effect between Pt and ultrafine SnO2 mesopore nanofiber structure, the change of oxygen adsorption caused a significant increase in resistance variation. The ultrafine nanofiber structure and one-dimensional interconnection of SnO2 are beneficial to the high gas accessibility and fast recovery. The results indicated that the Pt/SnO2 sensor have a high response value (31.2 for 2 ppm acetone), rapid response-recovery times, an actual detection limit (100 ppb), and satisfactory acetone selectivity. The above results demonstrate that Pt-doped ultrafine SnO2 nanofibers are potentially helpful as non-invasive real-time diabetic diagnosis materials.