SnO(2) nanotubes fabricated using electrospinning and atomic layer deposition and their gas sensing performance

A novel method is developed to fabricate a SnO(2) nanotube network by utilizing electrospinning and atomic layer deposition (ALD), and the network sensor is proven to exhibit excellent sensitivity to ethanol owing to its hollow, nanostructured character. The electrospun polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofibers of 100-200 nm diameter are used as a template after stabilization at 250 degrees C. An uniform and conformal SnO(2) coating on the nanofiber template is achieved by ALD using dibutyltindiacetate (DBTDA) as the Sn source at 100 degrees C and the wall thickness is precisely controlled by adjusting the number of ALD cycles. The calcination at 700 degrees C transforms the amorphous nanofibers into SnO(2) nanotubes composed of several nanometer-sized crystallites. The SnO(2) nanotube network sensor responds to ethanol, H(2), CO, NH(3) and NO(2) gases, but it exhibited an extremely high gas response to ethanol with a short response time (<5 s). The results demonstrate that the combination of electrospinning and ALD is a very effective and promising technique to fabricate long and uniform metal oxide nanotubes with the precise control of wall thickness, which can be applied to various applications such as gas sensors and lithium ion batteries.