Facile synthesis of hollow MnFe^sub 2^O^sub 4^ nanoboxes based on galvanic replacement reaction for fast and sensitive VOCs sensor

• Published in: Sensors and actuators. B, Chemical Chemical, 2018-04, Vol.258, p.589
• Main Authors: Zhang, Lu, Wang, Gang, Yu, Feng, Zhang, Yang, Ye, Bang-Ce, Li, Yingchun
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Chemical composition; Chemical synthesis; Ethanol; Gas detectors; Organic chemistry; Recovery time; Scanning electron microscopy; Sensors; Transmission electron microscopy; VOCs; Volatile organic compounds; X-ray diffraction
• ISSN: 0925-4005; 1873-3077

Hollow MnFe2O4 nanoparticles were successfully synthesized based on simple galvanic replacement reaction with Mn3O4 as a precursor. The chemical composition and nanostructure of the as-prepared samples were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. MnFe2O4 was applied to decorate interdigital electrodes and the obtained sensors were used to detect fourteen kinds of volatile organic compounds at different operation temperature from 160 °C to 280 °C. Results show that the sensor has good sensitivity, repeatability and long-term stability for ethanol gas determination at 210 °C. The detection linear range for ethanol is 2 ∼ 400 ppm, and the response and the recovery time was 7.5 s and 8.0 s, respectively. Besides, the fabricated sensor also displayed decent performance in measuring n-decane in the concentration range of 2 ∼ 400 ppm at 260 °C. Finally, gas-sensing mechanism of the prepared sensor was clearly studied.