Mesoporous SnO2 sensor prepared by carbon nanotubes as template and its sensing properties to indoor air pollutants

An effort has been made to develop a kind of mesoporous SnO2 gas sensor for detecting indoor air pollutants such as ethanol, benzene, meta-xylene. Mesoporous SnO2 material has been prepared by sol-gel method joined into multiwall carbon nanotubes as template. The field emission scanning electron microscope (FSEM) was used to characterize the samples, by which the mesoporous structure of SnO2 was obviously observed. The investigation results suggest that the as-prepared mesoporous SnO2 has a good response and reversibility to indoor environmental air pollutants. At last, the selectivity of the mesoporous sensor was investigated.