Hierarchical nanodisk synthesis of α-MoO3 nanomaterials for highly selective and sensitive ethanol vapour detection

In this work, a facile metal oxide-based VOCs sensor was fabricated for ethanol detection at room temperature. The crystallite size was analysed to be 44 nm by Debye-Scherrer formula and bandgap was calculated to be 3.56 eV using tauc plot relation. The response of alpha-MoO3 sensor was about 24, 44, 66, 86, and 92 % towards the 100, 200, 300, 400 and 500 ppm concentrations of ethanol, respectively. The response and recovery time of sensor were 10 s and 4 s, respectively for 500 ppm concentrations of ethanol at ambient conditions. The response of the sensor was slightly decreased by increasing the relative humidity (RH). About 2 % decrement in response of the sensor was observed after 15 days under 97 % RH.

Automated summary

In this study, a simple metal oxide-based VOCs sensor was developed for ethanol detection at room temperature. The sensor exhibited fast response and recovery times, and demonstrated good performance in detecting high concentrations of ethanol. However, the response of the sensor was slightly affected by high humidity.