Electrospun granular hollow SnO2 nanofibers hydrogen gas sensors operating at low temperatures

In this paper, we present H2 gas sensors based on hollow and filled, well-aligned electrospun SnO2 nanofibers, operating at a low temperature of 150 C. SnO2 nanofibers with diameters ranging from 80 to 400 nm have been successfully synthesized in which the diameter of the nanofibers can be controlled by adjusting the concentration of polyacrylonitrile in the solution for electrospinning. The presence of this polymer results in the formation of granular walls for the nanofibers. We discussed the correlation between nanofibers morphology, structure, oxygen vacancy contents and the gas sensing performances. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis revealed that the granular hollow SnO2 nanofibers, which show the highest responses, contain a significant number of oxygen vacancies, which are favorable for gas sensor operating at low temperatures. © 2014 American Chemical Society.