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. 2017 Apr 29;7(5):98.
doi: 10.3390/nano7050098.

Calcination Method Synthesis of SnO2/g-C3N4 Composites for a High-Performance Ethanol Gas Sensing Application

Jianliang Cao  1 , Cong Qin  2 , Yan Wang  3 , Bo Zhang  4 , Yuxiao Gong  5 , Huoli Zhang  6 , Guang Sun  7 , Hari Bala  8 , Zhanying Zhang  9
Affiliations

Calcination Method Synthesis of SnO2/g-C3N4 Composites for a High-Performance Ethanol Gas Sensing Application

Jianliang Cao et al. Nanomaterials (Basel). .

Abstract

The SnO₂/g-C₃N₄ composites were synthesized via a facile calcination method by using SnCl₄·5H₂O and urea as the precursor. The structure and morphology of the as-synthesized composites were characterized by the techniques of X-ray diffraction (XRD), the field-emission scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy (FESEM and TEM), energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS), thermal gravity and differential thermal analysis (TG-DTA), and N₂-sorption. The analysis results indicated that the as-synthesized samples possess the two dimensional structure. Additionally, the SnO₂ nanoparticles were highly dispersed on the surface of the g-C₃N₄ nanosheets. The gas-sensing performance of the as-synthesized composites for different gases was tested. Moreover, the composite with 7 wt % g-C₃N₄ content (SnO₂/g-C₃N₄-7) exhibits an admirable gas-sensing property to ethanol, which possesses a higher response and better selectivity than that of the pure SnO2-based sensor. The high surface area of the SnO2/g-C3N4 composite and the good electronic characteristics of the two dimensional graphitic carbon nitride are in favor of the elevated gas-sensing property.

Keywords: SnO2; SnO2/g-C3N4 composite; calcination method; ethanol gas sensing; graphitic carbon nitride.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
XRD patterns of the g-C3N4, SnO2, SnO2/g-C3N4-5, SnO2/g-C3N4-7, and SnO2/g-C3N4-9 composites.
Figure 2
Figure 2
SEM images of (a) g-C3N4, (b) SnO2 and (c) SnO2/g-C3N4-7 composite, (d) the EDS mappings of C, N, O, and Sn elements related to the selected area in (c).
Figure 3
Figure 3
TEM images of (a) g-C3N4 and (b) SnO2/g-C3N4-7 composite.
Figure 4
Figure 4
TG-DTA profiles of the g-C3N4 and SnO2/g-C3N4-7 composite.
Figure 5
Figure 5
(a) N2 adsorption-desorption isotherms and (b) the corresponding pore size distribution curves of the SnO2 and SnO2/g-C3N4-7 composite.
Figure 6
Figure 6
(a) Response values of the sensors based on SnO2, SnO2/g-C3N4-5, SnO2/g-C3N4-7, and SnO2/g-C3N4-9 to 500 ppm ethanol as a function of the operating temperature; (b) the responses of sensors (SnO2, SnO2/g-C3N4-5, SnO2/g-C3N4-7, and SnO2/g-C3N4-9) operated at 300 °C versus different concentrations of ethanol.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Real time response curves of the pure SnO2 and SnO2/g-C3N4-7 to ethanol in the range of 50–3000 ppm.
Figure 8
Figure 8
(a) Repeatability and (b) stability measurements of the SnO2/g-C3N4-7-based sensor to 500 ppm ethanol at 300 °C.
Figure 9
Figure 9
Responses of SnO2 and SnO2/g-C3N4-7-based sensors to 500 ppm different reducing gases at 300 °C.
Figure 10
Figure 10
(a) UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectra of SnO2, g-C3N4, and SnO2/g-C3N4-7 composites, (b) plot of (Ahv)2 versus energy (hv) for the band gap energy of SnO2, (c) plot of (Ahν)1/2 versus energy (hν) for the band gap energy of g-C3N4.
Figure 11
Figure 11
The internal structure diagram of the CGS-4TPS gas-sensing test system and the structure of the substrate.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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