Enhanced ammonia sensing response based on Pt-decorated Ti3C2Tx/TiO2 composite at room temperature.

Herein, we report a Pt-decorated Ti3C2Tx/TiO2 gas sensor for the enhanced NH3 sensing response at room temperature. Firstly, the TiO2 nanosheets (NSs) are in-situ grown onto the two-dimensional (2D) Ti3C2Tx by hydrothermal treatment. Similar to Ti3C2Tx sensor, the Ti3C2Tx/TiO2 sensor has a positive resistance variation upon exposure to NH3, but with slight enhancement in response. However, after the loading of Pt nanoparticles (NPs), the Pt-Ti3C2Tx/TiO2 sensor shows a negative response with significantly improved NH3 sensing performance. The shift in response direction indicates that the dominant sensing mechanism has changed under the sensitization effect of Pt NPs. At room temperature, the response of Pt-Ti3C2Tx/TiO2 gas sensor to 100 ppm NH3 is about 45.5%, which is 13.8- and 10.8- times higher than those of Ti3C2Tx and Ti3C2Tx/TiO2 gas sensors, respectively. The experimental detection limit of the Pt-Ti3C2Tx/TiO2 gas sensor to detect NH3 is 10 ppm, and the corresponding response is 10.0%. In addition, the Pt-Ti3C2Tx/TiO2 gas sensor shows the fast response/recovery speed (23/34 s to 100 ppm NH3), high selectivity and good stability. Considering both the response value and the response direction, the corresponding gas-sensing mechanism is also deeply discussed. This work is expected to shed a new light on the development of noble metals decorated MXene-metal oxide gas sensors.