Surface modification of WO3 nanoparticles with Pt and Ru for VOCs sensors

The production of a large number of metal oxide semiconductor materials is more for design needs, while theoretical exploration is relatively less concerned. In this work, WO3 nanoparticles were prepared by the tungstic acid thermolysis method, and the catalysts of Pt and Ru were loaded on the surface of nanoparticles with a wet impregnation method. As expected, the sensitive responses were enhanced significantly with the additional loading of Pt, which revealed that bimetallic loading could achieve better properties with a smaller loaded amount than single metal. According to the power-law response to oxygen and H2-TPR results, the sensitization mechanism of noble metals loaded WO3 to acetone as the typical VOCs was investigated. The results showed that the sensing processes were dominated by oxygen adsorption behavior and there was no difference with the loading of Ru. Furthermore, the power-law coefficient n became smaller with Pt loading. It is proposed that oxygen adsorbates on the surface become more active due to Pt. We would like to propose further a perspective, i.e., polymetallic loading that utilizes the properties of different metals to achieve synergism.