Facile synthesis and enhanced H2S sensing performances of Fe-doped α-MoO3 micro-structures

Fe-doped alpha-MoO3 micro-structures were fabricated by a hydrothermal method, in which the Fe doping amount was easily adjusted to be 0.3, 0.6, 0.7 and 0.9 wt.% by only increasing the reaction time. X-ray diffraction and the energy dispersive spectroscopy analyses as well as the difference in the color between the doped and undoped samples provided the evidences for the Fe doping. It was also found that an appropriate Fe doping amount was beneficial to the improvement of H2S sensing performances. The enhanced gas sensing properties of the Fe-doped alpha-MoO3 sensors were attributed to the small size effect, catalytic effect of Fe dopants, surface reaction dynamics, and the increase in the resistance of the doped samples. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.