Solvothermal preparation and gas sensing properties of hierarchical pore structure SnO2 produced using grapefruit peel as a bio-template

Hierarchical pore structure nano-sized SnO2 was synthesized using a solvothermal method with SnCl4 as the raw material and grapefruit peel as the bio-template. The products were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction, high resolution scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and nitrogen adsorption/desorption measurements. The results show that the SnO2 prepared from the grapefruit peel bio-template consists of many large size (5-20 µm) interconnected pores with a honeycomb structure and nanosized pores (9.46 nm) on the walls of the large pores. The as-prepared SnO2 presented a high specific surface area of 42.98 m2/g and the average crystallite size was about 10±0.5 nm. The gas sensing performance of the prepared material toward several volatile organic compounds was investigated. The results show that the hierarchical pore structure nano-sized SnO2 was highly sensitive and selective to n-butanol, indicating that this material may be a promising candidate for future development as a n-butanol gas sensor.