Glycothermal synthesis of urchin-like vanadium pentoxide nanostructure for gas sensing

This study reports a simple but effective glycothermal method for synthesis of urchin-like vanadium pentoxide (V₂O₅) nanostructures for gas sensing. By this method, the V₂O₅ nanostructure was prepared by two steps, involving preparation of precursor, followed by calcinations. The as-prepared precursor particles were rods (200 nm×1 μm) and could assemble into microspheres or urchin-like structures with a diameter of ~3 μm. The V₂O₅ nanoparticles were tested for sensing isopropanol. The microurchin structures show higher gas sensing performance than the nanorods.