Morphology-modulation of SnO(2) Hierarchical Architectures by Zn Doping for Glycol Gas Sensing and Photocatalytic Applications

The morphology of SnO(2) nanospheres was transformed into ultrathin nanosheets assembled architectures after Zn doping by one-step hydrothermal route. The as-prepared samples were characterized in detail by various analytical techniques including scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and nitrogen adsorption-desorption technique. The Zn-doped SnO(2) nanostructures proved to be the efficient gas sensing materials for a series of flammable and explosive gases detection, and photocatalysts for the degradation of methyl orange (MO) under UV irradiation. It was observed that both of the undoped and Zn-doped SnO(2) after calcination exhibited tremendous gas sensing performance toward glycol. The response (S = R(a)/R(g)) of Zn-doped SnO(2) can reach to 90 when the glycol concentration is 100 ppm, which is about 2 times and 3 times higher than that of undoped SnO(2) sensor with and without calcinations, respectively. The result of photocatalytic activities demonstrated that MO dye was almost completely degraded (~92%) by Zn-doped SnO(2) in 150 min, which is higher than that of others (MO without photocatalyst was 23%, undoped SnO(2) without and with calcination were 55% and 75%, respectively).