Sensing properties of electrospun In2O3 nanofibers

It is well known that the performance of semiconductor oxides are related to their morphology and particle size, which depend on turns on the preparation method and experimental conditions. In this regard, the electrospinning technique has been used in recent years to produce ceramic nanofibers with high aspect ratios and diameters ranging from tens of nanometers to micrometers [1], allowing to obtain sensing materials with unique properties associated at nanometer-scaled features. The main step for preparing ceramic nanofibers by electrospinning are as follows: (i) preparing a sol with polymer template and metal oxide precursor with appropriate viscosity, (ii) electrospinning of the sol to produce composite nanofibers, (iii) heat treatment of the as-spun composite material to yield ceramic nanofibers. In this work the electrospinning technique was employed to fabricate polymer-In2O3 composites with different polymers (PVP polyvinyl pyrrolidone or PVA polyvinyl alcohol). The as-spun composite fibers have been then calcined at different temperatures and characterized by using XRD, FT-IR, SEM and TEM.in order to highlight the effect of firing temperature on pure In2O3 fibers morphology and microstructure. Indium oxide, In2O3, has been widely investigated in many applications such as in solar cell, optical and electronic devices, liquid crystal devices and ultra-sensitive gas sensor detectors [2,3]. In this work the gas sensing properties of In2O3 nanofibers based sensors to various gases (O2, NO2, CO and COS) were reported and discussed.