ACETONE SENSING PROPERTIES OF HIERARCHICAL WO3 CORE-SHELL MICROSPHERES IN COMPARISON WITH COMMERCIAL NANOPARTICLES

In this work, hierarchical WO 3 core-shell microspheres were synthesized via a facile template-free precipitation method. Gas sensing properties of the synthesized powder to acetone and some other volatile organic compounds were comparatively investigated with commercial WO 3 nanoparticles. The synthesized and commercial powders were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, particle size distribution analysis, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller and Barrette-Joyner-Halenda techniques. Gas sensors were fabricated by deposition of powders between/on interdigitated electrodes via sedimentation approach. The results show that both sensors are sufficiently sensitive to detect 1.8 ppm of acetone; diabetes diagnosis threshold in human exhaled breath. Indeed, the hierarchical based one is highly sensitive and more selective to acetone.