Photoelectric H2S Sensing Based on Electrospun Hollow CuO-SnO2 Nanotubes at Room Temperature

Pure tin oxide (SnO2) as a typical conductometric hydrogen sulfide (H2S) gas-sensing material always suffers from limited sensitivity, elevated operation temperature, and poor selectivity. To overcome these hindrances, in this work, hollow CuO-SnO2nanotubes were successfully electrospun for room-temperature (25 °C) trace H2S detection under blue light activation. Among all SnO2-based candidates, a pure SnO2sensor showed no signal, even toward 10 ppm, while the 1% CuO-SnO2sensor achieved a limit of detection (LoD) value of 2.5 ppm, a large response of 4.7, and a short response/recovery time of 21/61 s toward 10 ppm H2S, as well as nice repeatability, long-term stability, and selectivity. This excellent performance could be ascribed to the one-dimensional (1D) hollow nanostructure, abundant p-n heterojunctions, and the photoelectric effect of the CuO-SnO2nanotubes. The proposed design strategies cater to the demanding requirements of high sensitivity and low power consumption in future application scenarios such as Internet of Things and smart optoelectronic systems.