Facile synthesis of SnO2 mesoporous tubular nanostructure with high sensitivity to ethanol

•Lanthanum-doped SnO2 mesoporous tubular nanostructure was prepared by electrospinning technique.•The La-doped SnO2 sensor exhibits high sensitivity and good selectivity to ethanol at 200 °C.•The excellent gas-sensing performances are ascribed to the large surface-to-volume ratio and the catalytic activity of La.

Lanthanum (La)-doped SnO2 was facilely prepared by electrospinning technique. The La-doped SnO2 was characterized by SEM, XRD, XPS and TEM. The XRD pattern indicates the polycrystalline nature of the La-doped SnO2 nanostructure. It has been found that the La-doped SnO2 nanofibers with a rough surface are actually mesoporous tubular nanostructure. The mesoporous tubes with a diameter of ~200 nm possess a pore size distribution centered at about 23 nm. The La-doped SnO2 sensor shows a high response to 5 ppm ethanol. Compared to pure SnO2, the La-doped SnO2 exhibits high sensitivity and good selectivity to ethanol at a relatively low optimum operating temperature of 200 °C, in addition to a short response/recovery time. The La-doped SnO2 mesoporous tubular nanostructure could be useful in fabricating semiconducting sensors for ethanol.