Synthesis of spherical WO3·H2O network for ethanol sensing application.

In this work, WO 3 ·H 2 O nanorods and spherical network were successfully synthesized via a simple hydrothermal process and the gas sensing performance of the samples was investigated. The spherical network shows superior performance due to its porous structure and efficient electronic transmission on the network. • A novel spherical WO 3 ·H 2 O network was successfully prepared. • The spherical WO 3 ·H 2 O network exhibits an enhanced gas sensing performance compared to uniformly dispersed nanorods. • The porous structure as well as efficient electronic transmission play an important role in gas sensing process. A novel 3D spherical WO 3 ·H 2 O network assembled by numerous partially connected nanorods was successfully synthesized by a facile hydrothermal method. The ethanol sensing characteristics of two samples were investigated systematically and the results indicated that the spherical WO 3 ·H 2 O network exhibited an enhanced gas sensing performance due to its large specific surface area. In addition, the porous structure provides abundant channels for gas diffusion and the connected nanorods facilitate the transfer of electrons along the network, resulting in the improvement of gas sensing properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]