Design of SnO2-based highly sensitive ethanol gas sensor based on quasi molecular-cluster imprinting mechanism

A novel method was developed to design highly sensitive ethanol gas sensor based on the mechanism of ethanol quasi molecular imprinting. SnO2 nanoparticles E and W were prepared by incorporating liquid ethanol which is the tested objective gas with deionized water thermal method and pure deionized water thermal method respectively. SnO2 nanoparticle films WW and EW for ethanol gas sensor were obtained by mixing pure deionized water with the as-prepared powders W and E, and WE and EE were prepared by mixing liquid ethanol with W and E powders respectively. The ethanol gas sensing properties of these films were evaluated. Testing results reveal that the sensor S-EE based on film EE which was fabricated by mixing liquid ethanol with E nanoparticles exhibits the most excellent sensing performance to ethanol gas and the response descended in the order of S-WE, S-EW and S-WW. It proves that the introduced objective gas in the procedure of device fabrication plays a very important role for design a highly sensitive gas sensor. In addition, we consider that pore diameter of about 4.3 nm may be the critical size for the smooth adsorption and desorption of ethanol gas. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.