Dependence of morphologies for SnO2 nanostructures on their sensing property

Different morphologies of one-dimensional (1D) SnO2 nanocrystals were successfully synthesized by thermal evaporation method via modifying the technological parameters. The morphology and structure of crystals were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD). Gas sensors have been fabricated using the 1D SnO2 nanocrystals to examine the responses to C2H5OH, CO, H2 and CH4 gases over a range of operating temperature from 150 to 350 °C. The effect of morphologies obtained by different technological parameters on sensing property was systematically investigated. The results showed that the high sensitivity of SnO2 nanowires was attributed to its large aspect ratio, good thermal stability and multimodel porosity.