Sensors and Actuators B 236 (2016) 201–207

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/snb

Au nanoparticles modified MoO3 nanosheets with their enhanced

properties for gas sensing
Huihui Yan, Peng Song ∗ , Su Zhang, Jia Zhang, Zhongxi Yang, Qi Wang ∗
School of Material Science and Engineering, Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Preparation and Measurement of Building Materials, University of
Jinan, Jinan 250022, China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Two-dimensional nanostructures with controlled morphology and dimensionality make them a promis-
Received 16 January 2016 ing candidate for high-performance sensing materials. Meanwhile, surface modification with noble
Received in revised form 21 May 2016 metals is considered as an effective strategy to enhance gas sensing performance of metal oxide-based
Accepted 26 May 2016
gas sensors. In this work, a novel gas sensing material was synthesized by decorating Au nanoparticles
Available online 27 May 2016
on molybdenum oxide nanosheets. The morphology and structure of the samples were characterized by
X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectra (XPS), field emission scanning electron microscopy
Keywords:
(FESEM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The hexagonal MoO3 nanosheets are about 600 nm
MoO3 nanosheets
Au nanoparticles
in diameter, and the scale of Au nanoparticles are around 10–15 nm. Furthermore, owing to the compos-
Nanocomposites ite structure, the sensor based on Au@MoO3 nanocomposites showed superior gas sensing performance
Gas sensors towards ethanol and it may have potential applications in the detection of ethanol vapors.
© 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction as building blocks for constructing nanodevices with desired crys-

With the increasing concern over safety in residential areas and
environmental protection, the effective detections of toxic and haz-
ardous gases, as well as the degradation of organic pollutants, have
become imperative [1–3]. As an important n-type semiconduc-
tor with a band gap of approximately 2.39–2.9 eV, molybdenum
trioxide (MoO3 ) exhibits distinctive gas sensing properties [4–8].
Nanostructured MoO3 is generally considered a feasible candi-
date for use in gas sensors, such as nanorods [9], nanobelts
[10], nanofilms [11], nanoflower [12], hollow spheres [13], and
hierarchical structures [14] etc. However, the development of high-
performance gas sensors based on nanostructured MoO3 remains
a challenge.
There are two common strategies that have been pursued in the
literature to improve the properties of gas sensors. One method is
controlling the growth of nanomaterials with a specially designed
size, shape, and morphology because the properties of gas sensors
are highly dependent on their surface to volume ratio. Among the
various complex nanostructures, two-dimensional (2D) nanostruc-
tures such as nanoplates and nanosheets have recently received
tremendous research interest because they can be effectively used
∗ Corresponding authors.
E-mail addresses: mse songp@ujn.edu.cn (P. Song), mse wangq@ujn.edu.cn
(Q. Wang).
tal orientation due to their anisotropic structures [15,16]. For
instance, Ma et al. synthesized size and shape controllable prepara-
tion of WO3 nanoplates through corresponding H2 WO4 precursors.
They found the enhanced ethanol sensing performance could
be attributed to the plate-like morphology [17]. J.H. Zhan et al.
reported the fabrication of porous ZnO nanoplates, and they found
that the as-prepared ZnO nanoplates exhibited excellent gas sens-
ing performance with high gas-sensing responses, short response
and recovery times [18]. As seen from these achievements, it can
be expected that 2D MoO3 nanostructure would be a promis-
ing candidate with excellent gas-sensing characteristics. Despite
considerable progress in the controlled fabrication of MoO3 nanos-
tructures with varied morphologies, there are few reports on the
synthesis of 2D MoO3 nanostructures.
The other method to improve the properties of gas sensors is sur-
face modification with noble metals, including silver, platinum, and
gold. In gas sensing, previous research has indicated that the incor-
poration of noble metals with semiconductor oxides by surface
modification is an effective way to improve gas-sensing proper-
ties. The gas-sensing performance can be improved significantly
because of the high catalytic activity of noble metals toward the
test gases [19–22]. Therefore, a new model for a gas sensor has
been proposed based on a 2D MoO3 nanosheets and the catalysis
of Au nanoparticles. Its gas sensing performance can be exploited
more efficiently because more active sites of Au may be exposed on

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.snb.2016.05.139
0925-4005/© 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
202 H. Yan et al. / Sensors and Actuators B 236 (2016) 201–207
the MoO3 nanosheets and gas diffusion and mass transport become
more facile, suggesting superior gas sensing properties. Herein, we
report a MoO3 nanosheets loaded with Au nanoparticles for gas
sensing applications. To the best of our knowledge, there are no
reports on such a unique system that combines the advantages of
2D MoO3 nanosheets and catalytic Au nanoparticles. Our results
demonstrate that the synthesized Au nanoparticle modified hexag-
onal MoO3 nanosheets exhibit significantly enhanced gas-sensing
performance, which may provide a new pathway for the develop-
ment of advanced materials of a similar type.
2. Experimental
2.1. Preparation of MoO3 , and Au@MoO3 nanocomposites
All the chemical reagents were analytical graded and used with-
out further purification. In a typical reaction, 2 mmol of sodium
molybdate (Na2 MoO4 ·2H2 O) was dissolved in 70 mL deionized
water and 9 mmol of thiocarbamide (CH4 N2 S) were added in after
sodium molybdate completely dissolved. Stirring the solution for
20 min, then 2.2 mmol of citric acid (C6 H8 O7 ·H2 O) was added
into the above solution. After magnetically stirring for 30 min,
transferred the solution into a 100 mL Teflon-lined stainless steel
autoclave, and maintained at 200 ◦ C for 21 h. The black precipitates
were collected by centrifugation after the hydrothermal proce-
dure, washed the precipitates three times with deionized water
and absolute ethanol, respectively, and dried at 60 ◦ C for 12 h in air.
Finally, the gray samples were obtained by putting the sample in
muffle furnace in calcination at 450 ◦ C for 3 h in air with the heating
rate at 5 ◦ C/min.
The Au@MoO3 nanocomposites were prepared by depositing
Au nanoparticles onto the MoO3 surface through chemical reduc-
tion method. First, 50 mg as-obtained MoO3 products, 1.0 mL of
0.01 M chloroauric acid (HAuCl4 ) and 1.0 mL of 0.01 M L-lysine
solution were dispersed into 15 mL deionized water. After stirring
for 30 min, 0.5 mL of 0.1 M sodium citrate (Na3 cit) solution was
dropped in the above solution under continually stirring to reduce
HAuCl4 to the Au nanoparticles (Au: MoO3 = 4 wt%). The precip-
itate was centrifuged, washed with deionized water and absolute
ethanol and dried at 60 ◦ C for 12 h. Finally, the Au@MoO3 nanocom-
posites were obtained by calcining the sample at 300 ◦ C for 30 min
in air to remove lysine. The color change from yellow of pristine
MoO3 to purple indicated that Au nanoparticles were successfully
decorated onto MoO3 support.
2.2. Characterization
The phase composition and crystal structure of the samples
were identified by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD, Bruker D8
Advance) using CuK␣1 radiation (␭ = 0.15406 nm) at 30 kV and
40 mA at a scanning rate of 2◦ at 2␪ min−1 . The morphology and
structure of the samples were characterized using FEI Sirion 200
field emission gun scanning electron microscope (FESEM, Hitachi
S4800), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM, Hitachi H-
800). More details about the structure were investigated by high
resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM, JEOL 2010).
X-ray photoelectron spectra (XPS) were measured using a PHI 5300
X-ray photoelectron spectrometer with an Al K␣ = 280.00 eV excita-
tion source. All the binding energies were calibrated with respect to
the signal adventitious carbon C 1 s peak with a binding of 284.7 eV.
The fitted peaks in the XPS spectra were separated using the XPS-
Peak 4.1 software.
2.3. Fabrication and measurement of gas sensors
The fabrication progress of the gas sensor was as follows
[23–25]: the obtained samples were firstly mixed with distilled
water to form slurry through milling, and then pasted onto a
prefabricated alumina tube (7 mm in length and 1.5 mm in diam-
eter, attached with a pair of gold electrodes and platinum wires)
by a small brush to form a thick film. A Ni-Cr resistor (diame-
ter = 0.5 mm, resistance = 35 ) in the inner alumina ceramic tube,
as a heater, was used to provide the working temperature for the
sensor device. Desired constant operating temperatures could be
obtained by applying certain voltages to the heater. The working
temperature was measured with an infrared thermometer (Omega
OS542), which has stated manufacturer accuracies of ±2 ◦ C of the
true temperature. After dried in the air and aged at aging set for 2
days, the gas sensor was put into the test chamber in a measuring
system of WS-30A (Winsen Electronics Co. Ltd., Zhengzhou, China)
by a static process. A typical testing procedure was as follows: The
sensors were put into a glass chamber (18 L) at the beginning. When
the resistances of all the sensors were stable, the calculated amount
of the target gas or liquid was injected into glass chamber by a
micro-injector and mixed with air. For the target gases obtained
from liquid, the concentration of target gas was calculated by the
following formula,
C = (22.4∗∗d∗V 1 )/(M∗V 2 ) (1)
Where C (ppm) is the target gas concentration,  (g/mL) is the den-
sity of the liquid, d is the purity of the liquid, V1 (␮L) is the volume of
the liquid, V2 (L) is the volume of the glass chamber, and M (g/mol)
is the molecular weight of the liquid. After the sensor resistances
reached a new constant value, the test chamber was opened to
recover the sensors in air. All the measurements were performed
in a laboratory fume hood with a large draught capacity. The sensor
resistance and response values were acquired by the analysis sys-
tem automatically. The whole experiment process was performed
in a super-clean room with the constant humidity and temperature.
In the test process, a working voltage of 5 V (Vworking ) was applied.
By monitoring the voltage across the reference resistor (Voutput ), the
response of the sensor in air or in a test gas could be measured. The
sensor response was defined as,
Response = Rair /R gas (2)
where Rair is the resistance of the sensor in air and Rgas is the resis-
tance of sensor in the presence of the test gas. Then, the slope
coefficient of response value to the logarithm of the concentra-
tion was defined as sensitivity. The response and recovery time
was defined as the time taken by the sensors to achieve 90% of the
total resistance change in the case of adsorption and desorption,
respectively.
3. Results and discussion
The crystal structure and phase analysis of pure MoO3 and
Au@MoO3 composites are shown in Fig. 1. It can be observed that
all the diffraction peaks of pure MoO3 product were in good agree-
ment with the standard JCPDS Card of MoO3 (No. 35-0609). In the
XRD pattern of the nanocomposites, the residual diffraction peaks
of 2␪ at 38.37◦ , 44.6◦ , 64.7◦ , 77.7◦ is related to the (111), (200), (220),
(311) lattice plane of the Au nanoparticles. We can infer that the
nanocomposites cover Au and MoO3 , it also indicating that Au dis-
persed on the surface of molybdenum oxide successfully and had
not changed the lattice structure of MoO3 [26].
In order to further determine the elements composition of
the samples, we used the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS)
which is a very useful method in determination of the chemical
 H. Yan et al. / Sensors and Actuators B 236 (2016) 201–207 203

energies of the Mo6+ of MoO3 . In addition, the peak of Mo 3d5/2 was

Au@MoO3 observed at 229.34 eV, indicating that Mo is also in the +4 state. The

Au (111)
reason of the formation of MoO2 is due to the reducing action of
sodium citrate, which is used to reduce HAuCl4 to the Au nanopar-
ticles. General speaking, MoO2 is less important in technological

Au (220)
Au (200)
Intensity (a.u.)

JCPDS No.35-0609
10 20 30 40 50 60
Two Theta (deg.)
Fig. 1. XRD patterns of pure MoO3 and Au@MoO3 nanocomposites.
compositions and their chemical states of material surfaces [27].
The XPS survey spectrum for the obtained samples is shown in
Fig. 2(a). The spectrum shows that the main constituent elements
were gold, molybdenum and oxygen atoms, except for additional
peak resulting from carbon which is the charged correction calibra-
tion. High resolution spectra of Au 4f, Mo 3d and O 1 s photoelectron
lines for the sample surface were recorded as shown in Fig. 2(b–d).
The Au core level spectrum recorded on the composite Au@MoO3
samples showed in Fig. 2(b). The presence of the peaks at 84.04 eV
and 87.44 eV is attributable to the presence of Au 4f7/2 and Au 4f5/2 .
As shown in Fig. 2(c), the Mo 3d binding energies were 232.79 (Mo
3d5/2 ) and 236.09 eV (Mo 3d3/2 ), which correspond to the binding
Au (311)
applications than MoO3 , but it has been used as a catalyst for alkane
isomerization or oxidation reactions and as a gas sensor [28,29].
Previous studies have shown that incorporating two or more metal
oxides to form a heterojunction interface can have drastic effects on
gas sensor performance [30]. Thus, it can be expected that adding
MoO3 MoO2 as impurity catalyst to the simple binary system of MoO3 will
efficiently improve the activity of sensing materials, resulting in the
improvement of the sensing performances. The peak at 531.64 eV
corresponds to the binding energy of the O1s, while the O1 s core
level spectrum recorded on the sample was a little asymmetric, this
is because there are lattice oxygen in the molybdenum oxide crystal
70 80 lattice and surface adsorption oxygen on the surface of the sample
showed in Fig. 2(d).
The morphology and nanostructure of the composite Au@MoO3
samples were further characterized by field emission scan-
ning electron microscopy (FESEM) and transmission electron
microscopy (TEM) observations. Fig. 3(a) and (b) gives the repre-
sentative SEM images of these samples, the MoO3 mainly consists
of a large number of inerratic hexagonal sheets structures with size
of about 600 nm. The Au particles equably distributed on the MoO3
sheets and the morphology is uniform. Fig. 3(c) and (d) displays a
typical TEM image of as-prepared product, It can be seen that the Au
distribute to MoO3 sheets averagely, the sizes of the Au nanopar-
ticles are within the range of 10–15 nm, Moreover, the interlayer
distance is 0.46 nm, which is consistent with the theoretical spacing
for (111) planes. Combined with XRD, SEM, TEM and XPS analy-
sis of the samples, it can be deduced the successful synthesis of
Au@MoO3 nanocomposites [31–33].

Fig. 2. XPS results of Au@MoO3 nanocomposites samples: (a) survey spectrum; (b) The Au4f binding energy spectrum; (c) The Mo3d binding energy spectrum; (d) The O1 s
binding energy spectrum.
204 H. Yan et al. / Sensors and Actuators B 236 (2016) 201–207

Fig. 3. (a) Low-magnification and (b) high-magnification SEM images of Au@MoO3 nanocomposites samples; (c) Low-magnification and (d) High-magnification TEM images
of Au@MoO3 nanocomposites samples.

180 (O2 (gas) → O2 (ads) → O2 − (ads) → 2O− (ads)) contributed to the

Au@MoO3 higher response. After the optimum operating temperature and fur-
160 ther increase the temperature, the response reduced because of the
MoO3
140 low adsorption ability of the ethanol molecules, which caused the
Response (Ra/Rg)

low utilization rate of the sensing material. Based on the response

120
100
80
60
40
20
0 centration. The existence of Au nanoparticles makes the response
180 200 220 240 260 280 300 320 340 360 380
o
Temperature ( C)
Fig. 4. Response of pure MoO3 and Au@MoO3 nanocomposites samples to 200 ppm
ethanol at different operating temperatures.
To find the optimum detection temperature, we investigated
the sensor responses to 200 ppm ethanol at the operating temper-
ature from 200 ◦ C to 360 ◦ C shown in Fig. 4. From the curve, it is
clearly to see that the responses to ethanol varied with the temper-
ature and both of them exhibited an ‘increase–maximum–decrease’
tendency. This can be explained as follows [34–36]: at a low
temperature, ethanol molecules cannot effectively react with the
surface absorbed oxygen species, which led to a low response.
While, with the increasing of temperature, both the higher reac-
tion activity and the conversion of surface absorbed oxygen species
curve as a function of operating temperature, 260 ◦ C and 280 ◦ C
were chosen as the optimum operating temperatures for MoO3
sample and the composite Au@MoO3 sample to go on the further
investigations, respectively.
In order to further study the sensitivity changed with gas
concentration, the samples gas sensor response under different
concentration of 25–1000 ppm ethanol at 280 ◦ C as shown in Fig. 5.
It can be clearly seen that the response of the Au@ MoO3 sensor
increases obviously with the increase of ethanol increase con-
amplitude changing extremely huge and far more evidence. The
response of Au@MoO3 is about 12 times than pure MoO3 to
200 ppm ethanol at 280 ◦ C. In addition, it can be also found that
the resistance of the Au@MoO3 nanocomposites sensor sharp
decreases upon exposure to ethanol gas with a high concentra-
tion, and then gradually increases, instead to tend to a constant
value, while the phenomenon has not exhibited in pure MoO3
samples. One possible is as follows: when Au nanoparticles make
contact with MoO3 , electrons flow from the MoO3 nanosheets to
the Au nanoparticles and an electron-depletion region or the Shot-
tky barrier forms between Au and MoO3 [37–39], which causes the
formation of interfacial barrier between Au and MoO3 . As a result,
the resistance of MoO3 nanosheets will increase. Higher ethanol
gas concentration, more significantly does the resistance increase,
as shown in Fig. 5. Similar phenomena were also observed in MoO3 -
 H. Yan et al. / Sensors and Actuators B 236 (2016) 201–207 205

180
4 Au@MoO3
Au@MoO3
MoO3 160
MoO3
140
Resistance (Mohm)

Response (Ra/Rg)
120
2 100
80
1
60
40
0 25 ppm 50 ppm 100 ppm 200 ppm 500 ppm 1000 ppm 20

0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 0

Ammonia Acetone Methanol Ethanol
Time (s)
Fig. 7. Gas responses of pure MoO3 and Au@MoO3 nanocomposites to 200 ppm
Fig. 5. Response transient of pure MoO3 and Au@MoO3 nanocomposites samples to ammonia, acetone, methanol, and ethanol at 280 ◦ C.
different ethanol concentrations (25–1000 ppm) at the optimum working temper-
ature of 280 ◦ C.
170

180 168
160 Tres= 22 s Trec= 5 s
166
140 Response (Ra/Rg)
Response (Ra/Rg)

120 164

100 162
80
160
60
40 158

20
0 10
0 20 40 60
Time (s)
Fig. 6. Response and recovery characteristic curve of the sensor based on Au@MoO3
nanocomposites towards 200 ppm ethanol at the operating temperature of 280 ◦ C.
based composite gas-sensing materials [40–43]. More research is
needed to explain this phenomenon in the future.
The response-recover behavior is an important characteristic
that determines the performance of gas sensors. Fig. 6 shows the
dynamic response of the sensor based on the composite Au@MoO3
samples to 200 ppm ethanol at 280 ◦ C. It is evident that the response
curves of the sensor increases sharply with increasing concentra-
tion of ethanol and then returns to the baseline quickly with the
ethanol exhausted out in the closed testing chamber, indicating
their quick and reversible response and recovery time. For 200 ppm
ethanol gas, 14 s and 5 s are the response and recovery time for the
composite Au@MoO3 samples.
Fig. 7 shows the response of sensors based on pure MoO3 and
Au@MoO3 sensor to a variety of gases with a concentration of
200 ppm, which were tested at their optimum operating temper-
atures. It can be observed that the response of the pure MoO3
and Au@MoO3 sensors to 200 ppm ethanol at working tempera-
ture were about 48 and 169, respectively. It is obviously that both
of their response values were higher than the response to 200 ppm
ammonia, acetone and methanol.
From the view of the practical applications, in order to ensure
the accuracy of the detection, gas sensors should maintain good
long-term stability. Therefore, the response of the sensor based on
Au@MoO3 nanocomposites to 200 ppm ethanol was measured at
156
20 30 40 50 60 70 80
80 100 120 Time (h)
Fig. 8. Stability of the sensor based on Au@MoO3 nanocomposites to 200 ppm
ethanol at 280 ◦ C.
280 ◦ C for 3 days, as displayed in Fig. 8. Apparently, even though the
response changed every day, the response values were just floating
around 163. Hence, a good stability of the Au@MoO3 nanocom-
posites sensor could be obtained and this favorable gas sensing
feature might make the present Au@MoO3 nanocomposites to be
particularly attractive as a promising practical sensor. In addition,
a comparison between the sensing performances of the sensor and
literature reports is summarized in Table 1 [44–48]. It is noteworthy
that the sensor in our work exhibits higher response compared with
other nanostructured MoO3 sensors reported in previous works.
The results above demonstrate that Au@MoO3 nanocompos-
ite exhibits enhanced ethanol sensing properties including strong
response and good selectivity. It may be related to the special struc-
tures of the nanocomposite. In typically, MoO3 is well-known as an
n-type semiconductor, characterized by its high free carrier con-
centration. For the gas sensing mechanism of MoO3 samples, it
should follow the surface charge model, which may be explained
by the change in resistance of the sensor upon exposure to dif-
ferent gas atmospheres [49,50]. When the Au@ MoO3 sensors were
exposed to air, oxygen molecules are firstly adsorbed on the surface
of material and ionized to O2 − or O− by capturing free elec-
trons from the conduction band, which results in the increase of
resistance of the sensor. At the reductive ethanol atmosphere, the
sensing mechanism can be expressed as follows:
C2 H5 OH + 6O− (ads) → 2CO2 + 3H2 O + 6e− (3)
206 H. Yan et al. / Sensors and Actuators B 236 (2016) 201–207
Table 1
Gas-sensing property of various MoO3 nanostructures to ethanol in the literatures and present study.
Sensing MoO3 nanostructures Operating temperature
Au@MoO3 nanocomposites 280
MoO3 nanosheets 260
MoO3 nanobelts 300
MoO3 nanoparticles 375
cage-like ␣-MoO3 /ZnO 270
MoO3 nanorods 280
MoO3 hollow microspheres 270
Fig. 9. Schematic illustration of energy band in Au@MoO3 composite system. Wm
is the overflow work of Au, Ws is the overflow work of MoO3 , Wms is the overflow
work of Au@MoO3 , Xo is the depletion layer on the surface, and Vo is the surface
potential.
Ethanol molecules react with absorbed surface oxygen and
release electrons back to the conduction band of MoO3 , thus
decreasing the width of electron depletion layer, and leading to
decrease in the sensor resistance. For Au@ MoO3 nanocomposites,
Au as a noble metal and MoO3 which is an n-type metal oxide
semiconductor would joint together to form a Schottky junction
between Au and MoO3 . Thus, Au/MoO3 Schottky junction will gen-
erate an electron depletion layer and a decrease in conductivity of
Au@ MoO3 material. The Au work function is larger than that of
MoO3 , electrons in conduction band of MoO3 will transfer to Au,
which will make MoO3 energy band around the Au/MoO3 interface
bend up. The values of (Ec − Ef ) enlarged and the values of (Ef − Ev )
diminished (Ec is the conduction band minimum, Ev is the valence
band maximum and Ef is the fermi level position of n-type semicon-
ductor oxide). As a result, a decrease in electron concentration and
an electron depletion layer inside MoO3 around Au/MoO3 interface
come out. It means a decrease in conductivity and an increase in
resistance of Au@ MoO3 material. Thus, compared to pure MoO3 ,
the ethanol enhancement of can be due to presence of Au/MoO3
Schottky barriers in Au@ MoO3 composites. The schematic illustra-
tion of energy band in Au@ MoO3 composites system is shown in
Fig. 9.
4. Conclusion
In a summary, Au nanoparticle modified MoO3 nanosheets were
successfully prepared by direct-reduction process with sodium
citrate as reducing agent Au nanoparticles on the surface of
MoO3 nanosheets. The results also show that the main con-
stituent elements were Au, Mo and O, the products were Au@MoO3
nanocomposites. The size of MoO3 nanosheets were about 600 nm
in diameter, and the scale of Au nanoparticles are around 10–15 nm.
Ethanol concentration Sensor response Ref
100 102 This work
100 ∼15 This work
200 ∼12 [44]
1000 ∼85 [45]
100 ∼10 [46]
1000 ∼40 [47]
200 ∼18 [48]
Furthermore, owing to the composite structure, the sensor based on
Au distribute to MoO3 nanosheets showed superior gas sensing per-
formance towards ethanol and it maybe have potential applications
in the detection of ethanol vapors.
Acknowledgement
This work was financially supported by National Natural Science
Foundation of China (No. 61102006 and 51172095), Natural Science
Foundation of Shandong Province, China (No. ZR2015EM019 and
ZR2014EL006), and Shandong Province Higher Educational Science
and Technology Program (No. J15LA56).
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Biographies
Huihui Yan majored in materials science and engineering and received her BS
degree of Engineering in 2014 at University of Jinan. She is currently studying for
MS degree at School of Material Science and Engineering, University of Jinan. Her
research subject is synthesis and gas-sensing properties of porous nanomaterials.
Peng Song received his B.Sc. and Ph. D degree in chemistry and materials physics
and chemistry, Shandong University, in 2001, and 2006, respectively. Currently, he
is an associate professor in School of Material Science and Engineering, Univer-
sity of Jinan. His research focuses on the synthesis of new functional nanostructure
materials and their application in gas sensors.
Su Zhang majored in materials science and engineering and received her BS degree
in 2015 at University of Jinan. She is currently studying for MS degree at School
of Material Science and Engineering, University of Jinan. Now, she is engaged in
the synthesis and characterization of the motel oxide semiconducting functional
materials and gas sensors.
Jia Zhang is currently studying for MS degree at School of Material Science and
Engineering, University of Jinan. Her research subject is synthesis and gas-sensing
properties of one–dimensional nanostructures.
Zhongxi Yang received his BS Degree from China University of Geosciences in 1994,
and MS Degree from Wuhan University of Technology in 1997. Now he is an associate
professor of School of Material Science and Engineering, University of Jinan, majored
in Metal Material and organic-inorganic composite materials.
Qi Wang received his BS Degree from Shandong Institute of Building Materials in
1985. Then he got his MS and Ph.D. Degree from Wuhan University of Technology
in 1995 and 2004, respectively. Currently, he is a professor at the School of Mate-
rial Science and Engineering, University of Jinan. His work is devoted to building
materials, organic-inorganic composite materials and their application.