High-temperature stable plasmonic gold gallia nanocomposites for gas sensing

Real-time monitoring of gases in harsh environments has become a necessity for a wide range of industries including aviation, aerospace and nuclear plants to control process parameters and optimize operating costs. High-temperature stable materials are necessary for these sensing platforms, often operating at temperatures greater than 500 °C. In this work, we report for the first time Au/gallium oxide nanostructures synthesized using a facile approach which after characterization by optical (UV–Visible) and structural (X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscope) analyses exhibited sensitivity to CO at a temperature of 800 °C. We have also studied the thermal, chemical and morphological stability of the samples, and the results indicate that they can be promising for high-temperature gas sensing. Such nanocomposites prepared using simple solution-based approaches can be a promising cost-effective approach for high-temperature and extreme environment gas sensing. Graphical abstract