Ag Nanoparticle-Sensitized WO₃ Hollow Nanosphere for Localized Surface Plasmon Enhanced Gas Sensors

Abstract

Ag nanoparticle (NP)-sensitized WO3 hollow nanospheres (Ag-WO3-HNSs) are fabricated via a simple sonochemical synthesis route. It is found that the Ag-WO3-HNS shows remarkable performance in gas sensors. Field-emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM) and transmission electron microscope (TEM) images reveal that the Agx-WO3 adopts the HNS structure in which WO3 forms the outer shell framework and the Ag NPs are grown on the inner wall of the WO3 hollow sphere. The size of the Ag NPs can be controlled by adjusting the addition amount of WCl6 during the reaction. The sensor Agx-WO3 exhibits extremely high sensitivity and selectivity toward alcohol vapor. In particular, the Ag(15nm)-WO3 sensor shows significantly lower operating temperature (230 °C), superior detection limits as low as 0.09 ppb, and faster response (7 s). Light illumination was found to boost the sensor performance effectively, especially at 405 and 900 nm, where the light wavelength resonates with the absorption of Ag NPs and the surface oxygen vacancies of WO3, respectively. The improved sensor performance is attributed to the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) effect.

Synthesis and gas sensing properties of molybdenum oxide modified tungsten oxide microstructures for ppb-level hydrogen sulphide detection

“…7 Up to now, a large number of metal oxide semiconductors such as SnO 2 , ZnO, Fe 2 O 3 , In 2 O 3 , NiO, and WO 3 (ref. [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] have been widely used as gas sensing materials because of their tunable dimension and structures.…”

“…The gas sensor using RuO 2 -functionalized WO 3 nano-bers showed a signicantly enhanced sensing response, which was 7.4 times higher than that of pristine WO 3 . Yao et al 14 fabricated Ag nanoparticle-sensitized WO 3 hollow nanospheres via a simple sonochemical synthesis route. The results displayed that the Ag nanoparticle-sensitized WO 3 hollow nanospheres exhibits a lower operating temperature of 230 C, a faster response of 7 s and a superior detection limit of 0.09 ppb toward alcohol vapor.…”

Surface plasmon enhanced Organic color image sensor with Ag nanoparticles coated with silicon oxynitride

“…Moreover, light absorption, which is a vital factor for EQE, has been increased in OPD with metal layers by plasmon resonance effect [27][28][29] . Metal nanoparticles (NPs) such as silver and gold have been also used to increase the EQE and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) via surface plasmon resonance (SPR) [30][31][32][33][34] . NPs in the active layer in OPDs absorb the incident photon and plasmon-assisted NPs absorb more photon when a polariton is created.…”

WO3 and Ionic Liquids: A Synergic Pair for Pollutant Gas Sensing and Desulfurization

“…The gas sensing of many WO 3 nanostructures has been investigated: nanoparticles, nanospheres [39,40], nanosheets [41], nanorods [42], nanowires [43,44]. In addition, doping with noble metals (Au, Ag, Pt and Pd) effectively enhances the catalytic properties of WO 3 and metal oxide semiconductors [45].…”