Study on Methane-Sensing Properties of α-Fe2O3 Nanoparticles Prepared by Hydrothermal and Chemical Precipitation Methods

• Published in: Journal of electronic materials 2022-05, Vol.51 (5), p.2156-2167
• Main Authors: Guo, Shisong, Lang, Xiaoyan, Fan, Heliang, Zhu, Yabo, Guo, Litong, Liu, Zhangsheng, Tao, Xueyu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adsorption; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Chemical precipitation; Chemistry and Materials Science; Electronics and Microelectronics; Environmental monitoring; Ferric oxide; First principles; Gas sensors; Instrumentation; Materials Science; Methane; Mining industry; Nanoparticles; Occupational safety; Optical and Electronic Materials; Original Research Article; Solid State Physics; Surface chemistry
• ISSN: 0361-5235; 1543-186X
• DOI: 10.1007/s11664-022-09467-0

In this paper, α-Fe 2 O 3 was prepared by hydrothermal and chemical precipitation methods, respectively, and its gas sensing properties toward CH 4 were systematically studied. The larger specific surface area of the materials provided them potential and considerable gas adsorption abilities. The results of gas-sensing measurements indicated the synthesized α-Fe 2 O 3 materials presented a p-type conductive nature. The sensitivities of the devices based on the different material fabrication methods were measured to be 195% and 214%, respectively, at 370°C for the concentration of 2000 ppm CH 4 . In addition, the sensing mechanism was discussed and simulated by first-principles calculation. The results revealed the higher surface adsorption energy of α-Fe 2 O 3 , which verified the experimental conclusions of our work. Our research suggests that α-Fe 2 O 3 is a promising candidate for CH 4 gas sensing in many fields such as mining safety and environmental monitoring.