Strain-regulated sensing properties of α-Fe2O3 nano-cylinders with atomic carbon layers for ethanol detection

The sensitivity of ethanol sensor is of paramount importance in a variety of areas, including chemical production with ethanol, alcohol testing for driving safety, etc. Herein, alpha-Fe2O3 nano-cylinders with atomic carbon layers are synthesized, for the first time, through in-situ catalytic chemical vapor deposition combined with hydrothermal techniques for the detection of ethanol. The reported alpha-Fe2O3@C nano-cylinders with double surficial strain effects deliver an ethanol detection sensitivity of similar to 8 times as compared with alpha-Fe2O3 nano-cylinders, similar to 10 times higher as compared with its detection sensitivity to ammonia, para-xylene, methanol and benzene. The sensor also exhibits over-14-day operation stability and the minimum detection limit of 10 ppm. To our best knowledge, the performances surpass those of previously reported alpha-Fe2O3. Such attractive performances are attributed to the enhanced charge transfer in alpha-Fe2O3 owing to the double surficial strain effects of alpha-Fe2O3@C nano-cylinders and the efficient adsorption of ethanol with atomic carbon layers. (C) 2021 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of The editorial office of Journal of Materials Science & Technology.

Automated summary

In this study, alpha-Fe2O3 nano-cylinders with atomic carbon layers were synthesized for the detection of ethanol, showing significantly improved sensitivity and stability compared to previous reported materials.