Hierarchical assembly of Fe2O3 nanorods on SnO2 nanospheres with enhanced ethanol sensing properties

Combined with other metal oxide is an effective method to improve the sensing properties of SnO2. In the paper, the heterostructural nanocomposites of Fe2O3 and SnO2 were prepared successfully by a simple and low-cost hydrothermal method, and the nanostructure and morphology were analyzed through a battery of characterization such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) approach and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Characterization results exhibit that the diameter of SnO2/Fe2O3 heterostructural nanocomposites and the diameter and length of Fe2O3 nanorods are 10 nm and 200-300 nm, respectively. The BET surface area is calculated to be 93.5 m2/g, and the main pore diameter is about 13 nm. According to the gas sensing text, it is obvious that the optimum temperature of SnO2/Fe2O3 heterostructural nanocomposites is 320 °C. When injecting the concentration of 100 ppm ethanol, the response value of SnO2/Fe2O3 heterostructural nanocomposites is 23.512, which is higher than the pure SnO2 nanospheres. Therefore, the SnO2/Fe2O3 heterostructural nanocomposite will become a promising functional material in monitoring and detecting ethanol.