Metal oxide semiconductors (MOX) are widely utilized in chemiresistive gas sensing owing to their exceptional stability and versatility. Integrating porosity into these materials is critical for enhancing performance, as it expands the surface area available for gas interaction. By providing a greater number of active sites, these porous structures improve overall sensitivity and facilitate rapid gas-surface exchanges, leading to optimized response and recovery times. In this study, we utilized an amphiphilic block copolymer as a template to engineer the porous structure of SnO2, a representative MOX in the field of chemical sensing. By leveraging the self-assembly-driven microphase separation of the copolymer, we have developed SnO2 with unique and tailorable pore structures. The porous SnO2 was synthesized through a facile sol-gel process assisted by the copolymer, and the evolution of pore morphology was systematically investigated as a function of the copolymer concentration. Finally, the gas-sensing performance of the porous SnO2 was evaluated under various gas conditions and compared with that of commercial SnO2 nanoparticles to demonstrate its superior sensing capabilities.
Project is currently funded by: Industry Sponsored Research