Effects of Connection Mode on Ethanol Gas-Sensing Properties of Different WO3 Nanostructures

Abstract

Here, we used a simple hydrothermal route to controllably synthesize a connection-enriched two-dimensional WO3 network comprising nanorods and a transfer-favored two-dimensional WO3 network comprising nanowires. The network compositions were studied by X-ray powder diffraction. Their structures were observed by transmission electron microscope and scanning electron microscope imaging. We used ethanol vapor to test the gas-sensing performances of the two kinds of networks. The gas sensitivity test results showed that the connection-enriched two-dimensional WO3 network comprising nanorods and a transfer-favored two-dimensional WO3 network comprising nanowires obtained a gas response of 12.5 and 27.5, to 200 ppm ethanol at 300 °C. We attribute these differences to greater density of electron transmission channels in the former network.