Noble metal additives are widely used to improve the performance of metal oxide gas sensors, most prominently with palladium on tin oxide. Here, we photodeposit different quantities of Pd (0–3 mol%) onto nanostructured SnO2 and determine their effect on sensing acetone, a critical tracer of lipolysis by breath analysis. We focus on understanding the effect of operating temperature on acetone sensing performance (sensitivity and response/recovery times) and its relationship to catalytic oxidation of acetone through a packed bed of such Pd-loaded SnO2. The addition of Pd can either boost or deteriorate the sensing performance, depending on its loading and operating temperature. The sensor performance is optimal at Pd loadings of less than 0.2 mol% and operating temperatures of 200–262.5 °C, where acetone conversion is around 50%.

A structural change between amorphous and crystalline phase provides a basis for reliable and modular photonic and electronic devices, such as nonvolatile memory, beam steerers, solid-state reflective displays, or mid-IR antennas. In this paper, we leverage the benefits of liquid-based synthesis to access phase-change memory tellurides in the form of colloidally stable quantum dots. We report a library of ternary M x Ge1–x Te colloids (where M is Sn, Bi, Pb, In, Co, Ag) and then showcase the phase, composition, and size tunability for Sn–Ge–Te quantum dots. Full chemical control of Sn–Ge–Te quantum dots permits a systematic study of structural and optical properties of this phase-change nanomaterial. Specifically, we report composition-dependent crystallization temperature for Sn–Ge–Te quantum dots, which is notably higher compared to bulk thin films. This gives the synergistic benefit of tailoring dopant and material dimension to combine the superior aging properties and ultrafast crystallization kinetics of bulk Sn–Ge–Te, while improving memory data retention due to nanoscale size effects. Furthermore, we discover a large reflectivity contrast between amorphous and crystalline Sn–Ge–Te thin films, exceeding 0.7 in the near-IR spectrum region. We utilize these excellent phase-change optical properties of Sn–Ge–Te quantum dots along with liquid-based processability for nonvolatile multicolor images and electro-optical phase-change devices. Our colloidal approach for phase-change applications offers higher customizability of materials, simpler fabrication, and further miniaturization to the sub-10 nm phase-change devices.

Formaldehyde is a toxic and carcinogenic indoor air pollutant. Promising for its routine detection are gas sensors based on localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR). Such sensors trace analytes by converting...