One-Step Synthesis of Au/SnO2/RGO Nanocomposites and Their VOC Sensing Properties

Abstract

Au/SnO <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> /reduced graphene oxide (RGO) nanocomposites have been successfully synthesized by a one-step method. The sample was characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectrometry to explore the formation mechanism. The gas sensing properties of the synthesized Au/SnO <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> /RGO nanocomposites have been investigated, which revealed that Au nanoparticles obviously enhanced the sensitivity by comparing with the SnO <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> /RGO nanocomposites and pure SnO <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> . The Au/SnO <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> /RGO nanocomposites showed higher response to ethanol than other VOCs. They also exhibited a wide linear detection range from 1 to 1000 ppm and high reproducibility to ethanol. Here, the sensing mechanism of the Au/SnO <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> /RGO nanocomposites has also been discussed in detail.