Magnetic-Field-Enhanced Morphology of Tin Oxide Nanomaterials for Gas Sensing Applications

We studied the effect of an external magnetic field (up to 0.31 T) on the growth of SnO2 nanowires fabricated using the horizontal vapor phase growth (HPVG) technique. The morphology of the nanowires was characterized by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and the chemical composition was characterized by energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis. We found that the length of nanowires was significantly enhanced by the application of EMF. The aspect ratio, as well as the density of the fabricated nanowires, increased with increasing magnetic field intensity. Although the physics behind the morphology enhancement of the nanowires under magnetic field is still being investigated, nevertheless, we demonstrated that the magnetic field could be used as a key parameter to control the morphology of tin oxide nanomaterials grown via HPVG technique. The magnetically enhanced nanowires were used in the development of a gas sensor and were found to be sensitive to hydrogen sulfide gas and the headspace gas emitted by spoiling meat.