One-step synthesis of SnO2 hollow microspheres and its gas sensing properties.

Hollow spheres of SnO 2 (Tin oxide) have been successfully synthesized by using a one-step calcined method and the products were uniform after heating SnO 2 crystals at 500 °C for an hour, the range of diameter is from 300 to 900 nm. We successfully used only one reagent (stannous octoate) without any catalyst or surfactant to synthesize SnO 2 crystals, in which was fast, simple and reproducible. Gas sensors based on these SnO 2 microspheres exhibited excellent selectivity, fast response, and good selectivity to 1–300 ppm ethanol vapor at 320 °C. It has shown great sensitivity at a low concentration (1 ppm) and operating temperature pointing out that the SnO 2 microsphere is an ideal potential material for ethanol sensors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]