Heterogeneous, Porous 2D Oxide Sheets via Rapid Galvanic Replacement: Toward Superior HCHO Sensing Application

Abstract

2D heterogeneous oxide nanosheets (NSs) have attracted much attention in various scientific fields owing to their exceptional physicochemical properties. However, the fabrication of 2D oxide NSs with abundant p-n interfaces and large amounts of mesopores is extremely challenging. Here, a facile synthesis of highly porous 2D heterogeneous oxide NSs (e.g., SnO2/CoOx) is suggested through a 2D oxide exfoliation approach combined with a fast galvanic replacement reaction (GRR). The ultrathin (˂5 nm) layered CoOx NSs are simply prepared by ion-exchange exfoliation and a subsequent GRR process that induces a rapid phase transition from p-type CoOx to n-type SnO2 metal oxides (˂10 min). The controlled GRR process enables the creation of heterogeneous SnO2/CoOx NSs consisting of small SnO2 grain sizes (˂10 nm), high porosity, numerous heterojunctions, and sub-10 nm thickness, which are highly advantageous characteristics for chemiresistive sensors. Due to the advantage of these features, the porous SnO2/CoOx NSs exhibit an unparalleled HCHO-sensing performance (R-air/R-gas ˃ 35 @ 5 ppm with a response speed of 9.34 s) with exceptional selectivity compared to that of the state-of-the-art metal oxide-based HCHO gas sensors.