Au nanoparticles enhance CO oxidation onto SnO₂ nanobelt

Au nanoparticles with a diameter of several nanometers (nm) attached onto metal oxides are considered as excellent catalytic materials. In this work, an individual SnO₂ nanobelt is decorated by Au nanoparticles with a scale below 5 nm by means of conventional thermal evaporation. This novel Au/SnO₂ complex nanostructure is configured to detect the occurrences of CO oxidations at low temperature region (<250 °C). Electrical property measurement is used to detect the captures and releases of oxygen species on the surface of SnO₂ nanobelt, reflecting the occurrences of CO oxidations. As compared with the same SnO₂ nanobelt without the architectures of Au nanoparticles, the enhanced CO oxidations on the surface of Au/SnO₂ nanostructure are attributed to catalytic reactions improved by Au nanoparticles with small size and the introduction of Au/SnO₂ interfaces.