Design of Au@WO3 core - shell structured nanospheres for ppb-level NO2 sensing

As motivated by the driving force of the urgent demand for high-performance nitrogen dioxide (NO2) sensor, in this work, a novel structure of Au@WO3 core-shell nanospheres (CSNSs) was designed and successfully prepared for NO2 detection. The techniques of X-ray diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller measurement, and elemental mapping analysis were used for the characterizations of the obtained samples. The results demonstrated that Au nanoparticles with 25-50 nm in diameter were successfully encapsulated by WO3 shells with the thickness of 30-50 nm. The NO2 sensing performance of the Au@WO3 CSNSs as well as the pure WO3 nanospheres were systematically investigated. Compared with the pure WO3 nanospheres, Au@WO3 CNNSs exhibited overall enhanced NO2 sensing performances in terms of response, detection limit, and response/recovery times. At the optimal operating temperature of 100 degrees C, Au@WO3 CSNSs showed excellent NO2 selectivity and long-term stability. Notably, the excellent NO2 sensing performance of Au@WO3 CSNSs was slightly affected by humidity. The possible sensing mechanism of the enhanced NO2 sensing properties of the Au@WO3 CSNSs was discussed.