Hydrothermal Synthesis of Self-Assembled Hierarchical Tungsten Oxides Hollow Spheres and Their Gas Sensing Properties

Hierarchical self-assembled hollow spheres (HS) of tungsten oxide nanosheets have been synthesized via a template-free hydrothermal method. Morphology evolution of the products is determined by the amount of H2C2O4 (oxalic acid) which serves as chelating agent. Structural features of the products were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), and morphology was investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). In addition, the porous structure was analyzed using the Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) approach. The synthesis mechanism of the products with self-assembled hierarchical structures was proposed. The NO2 gas sensing properties of self-assembled hierarchical WO3 HS materials were investigated, the gas sensing properties of WO3 synthesized by a variety of formulations were compared, and the possible gas sensing mechanism was discussed. The obvious enhancement of the gas sensing properties was ascribed to the structure of the hierarchical HS.