SnO₂nanowhiskers and their ethanol sensing characteristics

Abstract

SnO2 nanowhiskers of mass production have been synthesized by evaporating metal tin (Sn) powders at 800 °C. The synthesized products were characterized with scanning electron microscopy, x-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and Raman spectroscopy. Each SnO2 nanowhisker was a tetragonal rutile single crystal, with the diameters ranging from 50 to 200 nm and the lengths extending to tens of micrometres. The SnO2 nanowhiskers exhibited a sensitivity of 23 to 50 ppm ethanol gas at 300 °C. Our results demonstrated that SnO2 nanowhiskers have a promising application for gas sensor fabrication.