Heterojunction-Engineered Reduced Graphene Oxide/SnO2 with Mesoporous Structures for Gas Chemosensors

Rapid and effective detection of potent volatile organiccompounds(VOCs) at low operating temperatures is of great significance to keephumans safe from these environmental pollutants. In this work, weshow the facile synthesis of two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional(3D)-laminated SnO2 nanomaterials that are decorated withreduced graphene oxide (rGO) and their efficient chemosensing propertiesfor the potent VOC triethylamine (TEA). The as-prepared hybrid material(rGO/SnO2) possesses p-n-type heterojunction and mesoporousstructures that are composed of self-assembled SnO2 nanoparticles.The heterojunction between rGO and SnO2 in this hybridmaterial can be tuned by varying the relative amount of rGO in it.Because of its 3D/2D structures and p-n heterojunction, the materialexhibits better carrier mobility, electron transfer, activation energy,and mass diffusion for chemosensing processes than pristine SnO2. It also shows excellent chemosensing properties for TEA,with high response and selectivity at low operating temperatures,while remaining stable and operational for 13 days. Its detectionlimit for TEA, for example, can reach as low as 358 ppb. These attributesmake this material a promising TEA chemosensor for practical applications.

Automated summary

In this work, we successfully synthesized two-dimensional and three-dimensional laminated SnO2 nanomaterials decorated with reduced graphene oxide (rGO), which exhibited efficient chemosensing properties for the potent VOC triethylamine (TEA). The hybrid material (rGO/SnO2) possessed a p-n type heterojunction and mesoporous structures composed of self-assembled SnO2 nanoparticles. Due to its unique 3D/2D structures and p-n heterojunction, the material showed enhanced carrier mobility, electron transfer, activation energy, and mass diffusion for chemosensing processes. It demonstrated excellent chemosensing properties for TEA with high response and selectivity at low operating temperatures, and remained stable and operational for 13 days. For instance, its detection limit for TEA was as low as 358 ppb. These attributes make the material a promising TEA chemosensor for practical applications.