Synthesis and ethanol sensing characteristics of single crystalline SnO2 nanorods

In a basic water-alcohol mixing solution without any other toxically organic solvents, the single crystalline SnO2 nanorods with diameters of 4–15 nm and lengths of 100–200 nm were synthesized using SnCl4 as a precursor. The sensors fabricated from the nanorods exhibited the sensitivity of 31.4 for 300 ppm of ethanol. Both the response and recovery time are short, around 1 s. Moreover, a linear dependence of the sensitivity on the ethanol concentration was observed. These behaviors were well explained by considering the high surface-to-volume ratio of the nanorods.