Novel Mixed-Phase α/γ-Fe2O3 Micro-Flower Assembled with Nanosheets for Enhancing Acetone Detection

Although individual ?-Fe2O3 and a-Fe2O3 have been widely fabricated for gas sensors, their mixed phase of a/?-Fe2O3 might deliver excellent sensing properties. In this study, a facile solvothermal method was used to fabricate Fe-alkoxide. After thermal treatment, it was converted into ?-Fe2O3, a-Fe2O3 and their mixed-phase a/?-Fe2O3 with a nanosheets-assembled flower-like structure. We studied the influence of calcination temperature on the phase and sensing properties on acetone detection. The a/?-Fe2O3 which annealed at 400 ? included 18% a-Fe2O3 and it exhibited excellent sensing performance towards acetone compared to that of ?-Fe2O3 and a-Fe2O3. It showed a response of 353 to acetone with a concentration of 200 ppm, and a low limit of detection of 0.5 ppm at 160 ?. In addition, the change in responses with acetone concentration from 50 to 200 ppm shows a good linear relationship. Moreover, this material has good reproducibility and selectivity as well as a fast response time of 22 s and recovery time of 14 s to 200 ppm. Therefore, our mixed phase of a/?-Fe2O3 possesses great prospects for acetone detection.

Automated summary

In this study, Fe-alkoxide was fabricated using a solvothermal method and converted into α-Fe2O3, γ-Fe2O3, and their mixed-phase α/γ-Fe2O3 with a flower-like nanosheets-assembled structure through thermal treatment. The influence of calcination temperature on the phase and sensing properties of acetone detection was investigated. It was found that the α/γ-Fe2O3 annealed at 400 ℃ contained 18% α-Fe2O3 and exhibited excellent sensing performance towards acetone. It showed a high response of 353 to acetone with a concentration of 200 ppm, a low limit of detection of 0.5 ppm at 160 ℃, and demonstrated good linearity, reproducibility, selectivity, as well as fast response and recovery times.