Structure modulation based on SnO2/In2O3 heterojunction to improve ethanol sensitivity at room temperature

The development of semiconductor sensors for real-time monitoring of ethanol gas concentration changes is an important requirement for environmental governance and human health protection. In this paper, a new type of plasma fusion method is used to prepare a unique SnO₂/amorphous/In₂O₃ ternary heterostructure, which has excellent performance in ethanol detection. Its response value (41) is several or even tens of times higher than that of pure SnO₂ and In₂O₃, and its short response/recovery time indicates fast gas-sensitive reaction kinetics, while at the same time, having ultra-high selectivity and anti-interference capability. In-situ tests and First-principles density functional theory (DFT) calculations prove that its unique heterogeneous structure is the key to its performance. The highly crystalline SnO₂ and amorphous structures have good adsorption effects on ethanol and oxygen molecules, respectively. Therefore, the interface becomes the best place for gas-sensitive reactions. The small size of the nanomaterials prepared by us increases the number of phase boundaries and provides further guarantee for excellent performance. All the results show that this is a promising structural material.