Synthesis and ethanol sensing properties of ZnSnO3 nanowires

Abstract
ZnSnO 3 nanowires in mass production have been synthesized via thermal evaporation of ZnO, SnO, and graphite mixture powders. X-ray powderdiffraction results show that these nanowires are of ZnSnO 3 crystal structure. These nanowires have diameters ranging from 20 to 90 nm and lengths of several ten micrometers. Gas sensors fabricated from these ZnSnO 3 nanowires show a very high sensitivity to ethanol gas and the sensitivity is up to about 42 against 500 ppm ethanol gas at the operating temperature of 300 °C. Both the response and the recovery time are about 1 s. Mass production and good sensitivities of the nanowires indicate their potential applications in sensor technology at the industry level.