Synthesis of Zn-doped In2O3 nano sphere architectures as a triethylamine gas sensor and photocatalytic properties

Abstract

Zn-doped In₂O₃ nano spheres (ZIO NSs) were synthesized by calcining the precipitates prepared through a facile one-step hydrothermal synthesis method. X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray photo-electron spectroscopy (XPS) and energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDX) were respectively used to characterize surface crystallinity and morphologies. Gas sensors were made based on the as-synthesized materials to investigate their gas sensing properties of triethylamine (TEA). The ZIO NSs microstructures showed that the sensor response (S = R_a/R_g) reached 36 at 50 ppm, which was much larger than the previous results, and this combined with a low operating temperature of 280 °C, suggested a promising application of ZIO NSs in TEA gas sensing. In addition, the photocatalytic activities of ZIO NSs have been evaluated by the degradation measurement of methylene blue (MB), methylene orange (MO), and rhodamine B (RhB). As a result, the ZIO NSs demonstrate a much higher selectivity on the degradation of MB (90%) than that of MO (20%) and RhB (35%) in 60 min of measurement.