Rice-grain Sm2O3/SmFeO3 nanoparticles as high selectivity formaldehyde gas sensor prepared by precipitation

In this study, rice-grain Sm2O3/SmFeO3 nanoparticles were fabricated by a convenient precipitation method. In addition, the structure and morphology of the Sm2O3/SmFeO3 nanoparticles were characterized by XRD, BET, SEM, and TEM. The XRD patterns reveal that diffraction peaks of Sm2O3/SmFeO3 nanoparticles are in excellent agreement with those of SmFeO3 and Sm2O3. By using the Debye-Scherrer equation, the average grain size of the rice-grain particles of the sample was calculated to be 23.4 nm. BET showed that the material has a larger specific surface area. SEM and TEM results indicate that the material comprises millet rice-grains. The resulting Sm2O3/SmFeO3-based sensor exhibited good sensitivity performance, with excellent selectivity for formaldehyde gas. At the optimum work temperature (190 degrees C), the response value, response time, and recovery time for 10 ppm formaldehyde were 44, 111 s, and 102 s, respectively. These results reveal that rice-grain Sm2O3/SmFeO3 material demonstrates promise as a formaldehyde-gas-sensitive material. (C) 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.