Ethanol gas-sensing characteristic of the Zn2SnO4 nanospheres

In this paper, Zn2SnO4 nanospheres were prepared using hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) and sodium citrate as co-templates. The crystal structure and morphology of as-prepared Zn2SnO4 product were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM). A gas sensor was constructed with the prepared Zn2SnO4 nanospheres and used to detect ethanol gas and some other gases. Because of the special nanostructure and a relative large specific surface area (45.5 m2/g), the Zn2SnO4-based sensor showed a remarkable gas-sensing performance, including low operating temperature (180 °C), high response (23.4–50 ppm ethanol gas), fast response–recovery time and excellent selectivity to ethanol gas, which suggested the promising application of the Zn2SnO4 nanomaterials.