Facile synthesis and the enhanced sensing properties of Pt-loaded α-Fe2O3. porous nanospheres

In this work, the pure and Pt-loaded alpha-Fe2O3 porous nanospheres with uniform size were synthesized by a simple two-step process at low temperature. Various methods were employed to characterize the structure and morphology of the as-obtained products. Furthermore, as the sensing materials of oxide semiconductors gas sensor, their sensing properties were investigated systematically. Compared with pure alpha-Fe2O3 samples, the sensor based on 1.0 at.% Pt-loaded alpha-Fe2O33 nanospheres exhibited lower operating temperature, higher response and good selectivity to acetone. Meanwhile, the detection limit could extend down to ppb level. The improvement of acetone-sensing properties is not only attributed to the effective utility of the well-dispersed porous structures, but also due to the dramatic sensitization of the additional Pt components. (c) 2017 Published by Elsevier B.V.