Facile synthesis of Ca2+/Au co-doped SnO2 nanofibers and their application in acetone sensor

In this work, a novel acetone sensing material, Ca2+/Au co-doped SnO2 nanofibers (atom ratio of Ca/Au/Sn is 1:5:100), have been successfully synthesized via single-capillary electrospinning and calcination procedure. The morphologies, crystal structures and chemical compositions of nanofibers were characterized. Gas sensing investigations reveal that Ca2+/Au co-doped SnO2 nanofibers exhibit a high response, rapid response-recovery behavior and good selectivity to acetone at a low operating temperature (180 °C). These prominent sensing properties are attributed to the unique one-dimensional (1D) structure of nanofibers and synergistic effect of Ca2+ and Au co-doping. The results demonstrate that Ca2+/Au co-doped SnO2 nanofibers can be used as a promising material for selective detection of acetone.