In this work, Au was e
mployed as an ideal dopant to obtain enhanced sensing perfor
mance of
xylene gas sensor. Firstly, the as-perpared Au-doped WO
3&
middot;H
2O powder was synthesized by a facile and efficient hydrother
mal
method. Then various techniques including X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Trans
mission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectro
meter (EDX) were e
mployed to investigate the
morphology,
microstructure, crystalline nature and che
mical co
mpositions of the as-prepared Au-doped WO
3&
middot;H
2O nano
materials. The
morphologies of the nano
materials could be easily controlled by changing the ato
mic percentage (at%) of Au (0.15 at%, 0.30 at%, 0.45 at%) in the precursor solutions. And it have been attested that the 0.30 at% Au-doped WO
3&
middot;H
2O-based sensor realized higher gas response of 26.4–5 pp
m xylene at 255 °C, faster response/recovery speed and stronger selectivity to target gas co
mpared with the unloaded one. Further
more, the detection li
mit could be as low as 200 ppb level. Hence, Au-loaded WO
3&
middot;H
2O nano
material could be a pro
mising
material applied in
xylene gas sensor.
Also, the mechanism involved in the improving xylene sensing properties of Au/WO3·H2O was discussed.