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Synthesis of MoO3/WO3 composite nanostructures for highly sensitive ethanol and acetone detection

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Abstract

In this paper, different contents of molybdenum oxide/tungsten oxide (MoO3/WO3) composite nanostructures were synthesized by hydrothermal method. Field emission scanning electron microscopy images revealed that the morphologies of WO3 nanostructures were significantly influenced by the Mo amount. Furthermore, the introduction strategy of MoO3 into WO3 could effectively improve the gas sensing properties. Especially, the sensor based on the 4 mol% MoO3/WO3 composite nanostructures exhibited enhanced gas sensing performance, giving a low limit of detection (500 ppb). It shows high responses of 28.5 and 18.2–100 ppm ethanol and acetone at the operating temperature of 320 °C, which were about 2.3 and 1.7 times higher than those of the pure WO3, respectively. The enhanced sensing properties of MoO3/WO3 gas sensor can be attributed to the addition of MoO3, which has been discussed in relation to the gas sensing mechanism.

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Acknowledgements

We appreciate the support of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51205274), Shanxi Province Science Foundation (2016011039), Shanxi Province Special Talent Fund (201605D211020), University of Science and Technology innovation Research Project of Shanxi Province (2016137), Graduate Education Innovation Fund (02100738), Science and Technology Major Project of the Shan Xi Science and Technology Department (20121101004), and Key Disciplines Construction in Colleges and Universities of Shanxi [(2012)45].

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Micro and Nano System Research Center, Key Lab of Advanced Transducers and Intelligent Control System (Ministry of Education) & College of Information Engineering, Taiyuan University of Technology, No. 79 West Yingze Street, Taiyuan, 030024, Shanxi, China

    Yongjiao Sun, Ying Wang, Zhenting Zhao, Pengwei Li, Wendong Zhang & Jie Hu

  2. Key Laboratory of Interface Science and Engineering in Advanced Materials (Taiyuan University of Technology), Ministry of Education, Taiyuan, 030024, China

    Lin Chen

  3. Université Paris-Est, ESYCOM, UPEM, 5 bd. Descartes, 77454, Marne-la-Vallée, France

    Yamin Leprince-Wang

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  1. Yongjiao Sun
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Correspondence to Jie Hu.

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Sun, Y., Chen, L., Wang, Y. et al. Synthesis of MoO3/WO3 composite nanostructures for highly sensitive ethanol and acetone detection. J Mater Sci 52, 1561–1572 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-016-0450-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-016-0450-2

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