Interfacial Catalysis Enabled Acetone Sensors Based on Rationally Designed Mesoporous Metal Oxides with Erbium-Doped WO3 Framework

The emerging combination of Internet of Things requires the development of intelligent gas sensor, and semiconductor gas sensors based on metal oxides have been widely applied in industrial production, environmental monitoring, and food safety. Although versatile nanomaterials have been exploited as gas sensitive materials, restricted gas sensing performance including sensitivity, selectivity and stability, is still the fatal problem of practical applications. Herein, inspired by heteratomic doping engineering, unique rare earth erbium (Er)-doped mesoporous tungsten oxide (Er/mWO(3)) has been synthesized via one-step collaborative coassembly strategy, and Er ion-doped mWO(3) exhibited peculiarly hexagonal mesostructure (P6(3)/mmc), tunable specific surface area (58.1-78.3 m(2) g(-1)), uniform mesoporous size and highly crystallized framework with heteroatomic pore wall doping. The introduction of Er can significantly adjust the micro/nano structure and band characteristics, and 1.5 wt% Er-doped mWO(3) displays superior acetone sensing performance, including high response values (107 for 50 ppm), rapid response-recovery dynamics (9/56 s), prominent acetone selectivity, low concentration detection (125 ppb), anti-humidity property and excellent long-term stability. Such an excellent sensing performance is mainly attributed to unique interfaces catalytic sites induced by heteroatom interstitial doping. This finding opens a door for the design of smart gas sensors for environmental monitoring and industrial safety.