Porous Ga–In Bimetallic Oxide Nanofibers with Controllable Structures for Ultrasensitive and Selective Detection of Formaldehyde

The design of appropriate composite materials with unique surface structures is an important strategy to achieve ideal chemical gas sensing. In this paper, efficient and selective detection of formaldehyde vapor has been realized by a gas sensor based on porous GaxIn2-xO3 nanofibers assembled by small building blocks. By tuning the Ga/In atomic ratios in the materials, crystallite phase, nanostructure, and band gap of as-obtained GaxIn2-xO3 nanofibers can be rationally altered. This further offers a good opportunity to optimize the gas sensing performances. In particular, the sensor based on porous Ga0.6In1.4O3 nanofibers assembled by small nanoparticles (∼4.6 nm) exhibits best sensing performances. Toward 100 ppm formaldehyde, its highest response (Ra/Rg = 52.4, at 150 °C) is ∼4 times higher than that of the pure In2O3 (Ra/Rg = 13.0, at 200 °C). Meanwhile, it has superior ability to selectively detect formaldehyde against other interfering volatile organic compound gases. The significantly improved sensing performance makes the Ga0.6In1.4O3 sensor very promising for selective detection of formaldehyde.