Facile lotus-leaf-templated synthesis and enhanced xylene gas sensing properties of Ag-LaFeO3 nanoparticles

• Published in: Journal of materials chemistry. C, Materials for optical and electronic devices Materials for optical and electronic devices, 2018, Vol.6 (23), p.6138-6145
• Main Authors: Chen, Mingpeng, Zhang, Yumin, Zhang, Jin, Li, Kejin, Lv, Tianping, Shen, Kaiyuan, Zhu, Zhongqi, Liu, Qingju
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Detection; Ferrites; Gas sensors; Gases; Lanthanum compounds; Molecular chains; Molecular imprinting; Nanoparticles; Operating temperature; Selectivity; Silver; Sol-gel processes; Stability; VOCs; Volatile organic compounds; Xylene
• ISSN: 2050-7526; 2050-7534
• DOI: 10.1039/c8tc01402g

For developing highly sensitive, selective and stable gas sensing materials for the detection of volatile organic compounds, we report porous micro/nano-level structure Ag-LaFeO 3 nanoparticles which have been successfully synthesized using a lotus leaf as a bio-template via a sol-gel process. Combined with the molecular imprinting technique, the selectivity of the gas sensor can be altered and enhanced gas-sensing properties are obtained due to the unique molecular recognition and large specific surface area. The Ag-LaFeO 3 nanoparticles are found to exhibit an ultrahigh xylene response ( R g / R a = 16.76 to 10 ppm), fast gas response and recovery (68 and 36 s) and superior selectivity against the other tested interfering gases at a relatively low operating temperature of 125 °C. They also exhibit excellent humidity stability and long-term stability with small deviations, and this result may deliver a new approach that enables the stable detection of xylene gas. For developing highly sensitive, selective and stable gas sensing materials for the detection of volatile organic compounds, we report porous micro/nano-level structured Ag-LaFeO 3 nanoparticles which have been successfully synthesized using a lotus leaf as a bio-template via a sol-gel process.