The xylene sensing performance of WO3 decorated anatase TiO2 nanoparticles as a sensing material for a gas sensor at a low operating temperature

Abstract

Here, pristine and WO₃ decorated TiO₂ nanoparticles were synthesized by a one-step hydrothermal method without the use of a surfactant or template and used to fabricate gas sensors. Various techniques were employed for the characterization of the structure and morphology of the as-prepared products. The gas-sensing characteristics of the fabricated sensors were investigated for various concentrations of xylene at different temperatures. At a low operation temperature of 160 °C, the sensors possess an excellent gas response, selectivity, linear dependence, low detection limitation, and repeatability as well as long-term stability. In particular, for the high gas response of the 10.0 mol% WO₃ decorated TiO₂ nanoparticles based sensor, its response reaches 92.53 for 10 ppm xylene, which is much higher than that of the pristine TiO₂ based sensor. And the detection limit is 1 ppm. Those values demonstrate the potential of using WO₃ decorated TiO₂ nanoparticles for xylene gas detection, particularly with low concentration xylene. Apart from this, the mechanism related to the advanced properties was also investigated and presented.