Highly sensitive acetone gas sensor based on gold nanoparticles modified W18O49 porous polymeric spheres

Nanogold-modified W₁₈O₄₉ porous polymer spheres were fabricated using a two-step solvothermal method. The material was characterized in various ways by XRD and SEM. The results show that the material is highly crystalline with a porous surface with pore diameters of around 9.0 nm, and that the addition of gold increases the percentage of adsorbed oxygen content from 20.7% to 55.1%. The gas sensitivity test results indicated that the nanogold-modified W₁₈O₄₉ porous polymer spheres achieved a wide detection range of 10–500 ppm acetone, the optimal working temperature was reduced from 280 °C to 220 °C, the sensitivity for 100 ppm acetone was increased by 2.57 times to 66, the response/recovery time was drastically shortened to 5 s/12 s, and the response to acetone was much higher than that of other gases. Excellent selectivity and excellent stability over 35 days were achieved. Gold-modified W₁₈O₄₉ porous polymer spheres have the potential for good acetone gas detection and can potentially be used in high-performance sensors.

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