One-pot synthesis of Zn-doped SnO2 nanosheet-based hierarchical architectures as a glycol gas sensor and photocatalyst

Abstract

Zn-doped SnO₂ hierarchical architectures (ZSHAs) with controllable size have been prepared using a facile hydrothermal method, which are composed of two dimensional (2D) nanosheets with a thickness of about 40 nm. The properties of ZSHAs have been explored by gas sensing and photocatalysis testing. A sensor response (S = R_a/R_g) of 43 can be achieved at 100 ppm glycol, and the detection limit can reach down to the 5 ppm level with a response of about 5, combined with a low operating temperature of 240 °C, suggesting a promising application of ZSHAs in glycol gas sensing. Besides, the photocatalytic activities of ZSHAs have been evaluated by the degradation measurement of methylene blue (MB), methylene orange (MO), and rhodamine B (RhB). As a result, the ZSHAs demonstrate a much higher selectivity on the degradation of MB (91%) than that of MO (40%) and RhB (60%) in 60 min of measurement.