Hierarchical nanodisk synthesis of α-MoO3 nanomaterials for highly selective and sensitive ethanol vapour detection

• Published in: Materials letters 2023-01, Vol.330, p.133375, Article 133375
• Main Authors: Kumar, Atul, Chauhan, Pratima
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Ethanol; MoO3; Nanoparticles; Semiconductors; Sensors
• ISSN: 0167-577X; 1873-4979
• DOI: 10.1016/j.matlet.2022.133375

•Orthorhombic phase of molybdenum trioxide (α-MoO3) was successfully synthesized.•Change in electrical resistance-based study of α-MoO3 under the various VOCs atmospheres was performed.•The VOCs sensing properties of prepared gas sensor was examined under ambient conditions.•The fabricated α-MoO3 based sensor show high response towards ethanol at ambient temperature. In this work, a facile metal oxide-based VOCs sensor was fabricated for ethanol detection at room temperature. The crystallite size was analysed to be 44 nm by Debye-Scherrer formula and bandgap was calculated to be 3.56 eV using tauc plot relation. The response of α-MoO3 sensor was about 24, 44, 66, 86, and 92 % towards the 100, 200, 300, 400 and 500 ppm concentrations of ethanol, respectively. The response and recovery time of sensor were 10 s and 4 s, respectively for 500 ppm concentrations of ethanol at ambient conditions. The response of the sensor was slightly decreased by increasing the relative humidity (RH). About 2 % decrement in response of the sensor was observed after 15 days under 97 % RH.