This work reported a highly sensitive ethanol sensor assembled from raspberry-like hierarchical Ce-doped WO₃ nanoparticles. The Ce-doped WO₃ nanoparticles doped with different contents (0, 2, 4 and 8 at%) of Ce were synthesized by a facile hydrothermal method. The crystalline structure and the micromorphology of Ce-doped WO₃ nanoparticles were measured by x-ray diffraction (XRD) and field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), respectively. The x-ray photoelectric spectroscopy (XPS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) attached with energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) confirmed the elemental distribution and the chemical state of surface elements. Comparison between the pristine and Ce-doped WO₃ samples revealed that the doping of Ce on WO₃ can powerfully improve the response ability to ethanol. As the doping content of Ce element was 4 at%, the sensor exhibited optimal response to ethanol in the range of 0.1–50 ppm at the working temperature of 350 C. The response can achieve a high value of 12.3 for detecting 1 ppm ethanol with a fast response/recovery (6s/6s). Impressively, the sensor still maintained a good response (8.1) to ethanol even at sub-ppm level (0.1 ppm ethanol). This work will pave a platform for design and development of highly sensitive ethanol sensors.

这项工作报告了由覆盆子状的分级Ce掺杂WO ₃纳米粒子组装而成的高灵敏度乙醇传感器。通过简便的水热法合成了掺Ce含量不同（0、2、4和8 at％）的Ce掺杂WO ₃纳米颗粒。Ce掺杂的WO ₃纳米颗粒的晶体结构和微观形貌分别通过X射线衍射（XRD）和场发射扫描电子显微镜（FESEM）测量。附有能量分散光谱仪（EDS）的X射线光电光谱（XPS）和透射电子显微镜（TEM）证实了表面元素的元素分布和化学状态。原始和Ce掺杂的WO _3的比较样品显示，在WO ₃上掺杂Ce可以有效提高对乙醇的响应能力。当Ce元素的掺杂含量为4 at％时，在350°C的工作温度下，传感器对乙醇的响应最佳，范围为0.1–50 ppm。当检测1 ppm乙醇时，该响应可达到12.3的高值。快速响应/恢复（6s / 6s）。令人印象深刻的是，即使在低于ppm的水平（0.1 ppm的乙醇）下，传感器仍然对乙醇保持良好的响应（8.1）。这项工作将为高灵敏度乙醇传感器的设计和开发奠定平台。