A highly sensitive room-temperature sensing material for NH3: SnO2-nanorods coupled by rGO

SnO2-nanorods coupled by reduced graphene oxide (rGO) nanostructures were synthesized through a hydrothermal method, and their NH3 sensing properties were studied. The uniform SnO2 nanorods randomly grew on the reduced graphene oxide (rGO) substrate and formed a network structure. The microstructure and morphology of the as-prepared materials were characterized by various techniques. A gas sensor fabricated from the as-prepared SnO2-nanorods coupled by rGO was investigated the ammonia sensing properties. Most importantly, the sensor exhibited good sensitivity to NH3 at room temperature. This sensor performed a fast response and recovery time for 200 ppm NH3 at room temperature, which were 8 s and 13 s, respectively. The response value (Ra/Rg) of the SnO2-nanorods coupled by rGO up to 1.9 for 500 ppm NH3 at room temperature, indicated that the quite good NH3 sensing performance at room temperature by the structure of SnO2-nanorod coupled by rGO. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.