Preparation and enhanced acetone sensing property of flower-like Sn-doped Fe2O3

Metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) nanostructures are used widely in acetone sensors, but pure MOS sensors usually have poor selectivity and low sensitivity. In this study, various Sn-doped Fe2O3 (Sn-Fe2O3) microflowers were obtained using FeOOH microflowers as precursors using a liquid hydrolysis reaction followed by a calci-nation process. Various characterization techniques verified the morphologies and composition of the products. The microflower-like 17.0 wt% Sn-Fe2O3 possessed a specific surface area of 138.9 m2 g-1. Employed as a sensing material, the 17.0 wt% Sn-Fe2O3 microflowers exhibited a strong response of 107.7 for 100 ppm acetone with short response/recovery times of 8/12 s. Furthermore, the 17.0 wt% Sn-Fe2O3 microflower sensor displayed good selectivity and high stability for acetone vapor with a detection limit of 114 ppb. The in-situ Raman spectrum verified that the Sn-Fe2O3 microflowers improved the adsorption of the acetone molecules, resulting in enhanced sensing performance.