1 research outputs found
Tin Oxide Nanowires Decorated with Ag Nanoparticles for Visible Light-Enhanced Hydrogen Sensing at Room Temperature: Bridging Conductometric Gas Sensing and Plasmon-Driven Catalysis
We demonstrate that
conductometric gas sensing at room temperature
with SnO<sub>2</sub> nanowires (NWs) is enhanced by visible and supraband
gap UV irradiation when and only when the metal oxide NWs are decorated
with Ag nanoparticles (NPs) (<i>diameter</i> < 20 nm);
no enhancement is observed for the bare SnO<sub>2</sub> case. We combine
the spectroscopic techniques with conductometric gas sensing to study
the wavelength dependency of the sensors’ response, showing
a strict correlation between the Ag-loaded SnO<sub>2</sub> optical
absorption and its gas response as a function of irradiation wavelength.
Our results lead to the hypothesis that the enhanced gas response
under UV–vis light is the effect of plasmonic hot electrons
populating the Ag NPs surface. Finally, we discuss the chemiresistive
properties of Ag-loaded SnO<sub>2</sub> sensor in parallel with the
theory of plasmon-driven catalysis, to propose an interpretative framework
that is coherent with the established paradigma of these two separated
fields of study