SnO2 quantum dots decorated on RGO: a superior sensitive, selective and reproducible performance for a H2 and LPG sensor.

ABSTRACT

We report the H2 and LPG gas sensing behavior of RGO/SnO2 QDs synthesized by a surfactant assisted hydrothermal method. The RGO/SnO2 QD based sensor shows a high response of ∼89.3% to H2 and ∼92.4% to LPG for 500 ppm test gas concentration at operating temperatures of 200 °C and 250 °C, respectively. Further, the RGO/SnO2 QD based sensor shows good selectivity for H2 and LPG in the presence of other interfering gases such as ammonia, chloroform, toluene, benzene, acetone, n-butylacetate, acetic acid and formic acid. We observed that the gas response to H2 is 29.8 times higher than that to acetic acid whereas the gas response to LPG is 17.8 times higher than that to formic acid. Long-term analyses have also been performed to demonstrate the reproducible nature of the RGO/SnO2 QD based sensor over passing time which shows excellent reproducibility.