Hydrothermal synthesis of hierarchical flower-like SnO2 nanostructures with enhanced ethanol gas sensing properties

•Two morphologies of hierarchical flower-like SnO2 nanostructures were reported.•A possible growth mechanism for the two flower-like architectures was proposed.•The SnO2 sheet-flower sensor shows a significantly enhanced gas response.

We report the successful synthesis of two hierarchical tin oxide flower-like architectures via a simple yet facile hydrothermal method. Through a comprehensive characterization of microstructures and morphologies of the as-prepared products, we find that the flower-like nanostructures are assembled with nanorods and nanosheets. We further propose a possible growth mechanism for the two flower-like architectures. Moreover, the flower-like architecture assembled with the well-ordered nanosheets is found to display a significantly enhanced gas response to ethanol as compared to the one assembled with the nanorods.

Graphical abstractIn this work, we prepare two different morphologies of hierarchical SnO2 nanoflowers via a simple yet facile hydrothermal process, and systematically report their formation mechanisms and gas-sensing properties.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide