Fabrication of biomass-derived C-doped Bi2WO6 templated from wood fibers and its excellent sensing of the gases containing carbonyl groups

In this work, wood fibers (Populus ussuriensis Kom) were used as biotemplate to synthesize Bi2WO6. In corporation of biomass-derived C, the sensitivity to the gases containing carbonyl groups of gas sensors is improved. The experimental results showed that the C-doped Bi2WO6 sensors presented high sensitivities to acetone, acetic acid and ethyl acetate molecules at low temperature (370 degrees C). The gas sensitivities of C-doped Bi2WO6 sensors on exposure to 1000 ppm of acetone, acetic acid and ethyl acetate gas are 4.4, 3.0 and 2.4 times higher than that exposure to 1000 ppm of ethanol, respectively. That is because the biomass-derived C can adsorb more oxygen molecules and the carbonyl groups in the gases can react with more oxygen molecules and release more electrons leading a resistance decrease of the sensors due to the electronic structure of carbonyl groups. The reported strategy opened up a new way for the development of gas sensors.