Qu Zhou

Fabrication and Characterization of Highly Sensitive Acetone Chemical Sensor Based on ZnO Nanoballs

Highly sensitive acetone chemical sensor was fabricated using ZnO nanoballs modified silver electrode. A low temperature, facile, template-free hydrothermal technique was adopted to synthesize the ZnO nanoballs with an average diameter of 80 ± 10 nm. The XRD and UV-Vis. studies confirmed the excellent crystallinity and optical properties of the synthesized ZnO nanoballs. The electrochemical sensing performance of the ZnO nanoballs modified AgE towards the detection of acetone was executed by simple current–voltage (I–V) characteristics. The sensitivity value of ∼472.33 μA·mM−1·cm−2 and linear dynamic range (LDR) of 0.5 mM–3.0 mM with a correlation coefficient (R2) of 0.97064 were obtained from the calibration graph. Experimental limit of detection (LOD) for ZnO nanoballs modified AgE was found to be 0.5 mM.

Detection of Dissolved Carbon Monoxide in Transformer Oil Using 1.567 m Diode Laser-Based Photoacoustic Spectroscopy

Carbon monoxide (CO) is one of the most important fault characteristic gases dissolved in power transformer oil. With the advantages of high sensitivity and accuracy, long-term stability, and short detection time, photoacoustic spectroscopy (PAS) has been proven to be one promising sensing technology for trace gas recognition. In this investigation, a tunable PAS experimental system based on a distributed-feedback (DFB) diode laser was proposed for recognizing dissolved CO in transformer oil. The molecular spectral line of CO gas detection was selected at 1.567u2009μm in the whole experiment. Relationships between the photoacoustic (PA) signal and gas pressure, temperature, laser power, and CO gas concentration were measured and discussed in detail, respectively. Finally, based on the least square regression theory, a novel quantitative identification method for CO gas detection with the PAS experimental system was proposed. And a comparative research about the gas detection performances performed by the PAS system and gas chromatography (GC) measurement was presented. All results lay a solid foundation for exploring a portable and tunable CO gas PAS detection device for practical application in future.

Synthesis and Characterization of Highly Sensitive Hydrogen (H2) Sensing Device Based on Ag Doped SnO2 Nanospheres

In this paper, pure and Ag-doped SnO2 nanospheres were synthesized by hydrothermal method and characterized via X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), and X-ray photoelectron spectra (XPS), respectively. The gas sensing performance of the pure, 1 at.%, 3 at.%, and 5 at.% Ag-doped SnO2 sensing devices toward hydrogen (H2) were systematically evaluated. The results indicated that compared with pure SnO2 nanospheres, Ag-doped SnO2 nanospheres could not only decrease the optimum working temperature but also significantly improve H2 sensing such as higher gas response and faster response-recovery. Among all the samples, the 3 at.% Ag-doped SnO2 showed the highest response 39 to 100 μL/L H2 at 300 °C. Moreover, its gas sensing mechanism was discussed, and the results will provide reference and theoretical guidance for the development of high-performance SnO2-based H2 sensing devices.