Preparation and ethanol sensing properties of In2O3 nanotubes

In this paper, In2O3 nanotubes were prepared by an electrospinning method combined with an oriented-contract calcinations scheme, and characterized by differential thermal and thermal gravimetric analyzer (DTA-TGA), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Ethanol sensing properties of the as-prepared nanotubes were investigated. The results showed that the In2O3 nanotubes were obtained at a fast heating rate of 100 degrees C/min. Ethanol sensing properties indicated that the nanotubes exhibit a high response of 87.5 to 500 ppm ethanol, fast response (20 s) and recovery (18 s) rate at the optimal operating temperature of 260 degrees C. Moreover, the nanotubes also exhibit good selectivity.