Synthesis of tin-glycerate and it conversion into SnO₂ spheres for highly sensitive low-ppm-level acetone detection

Tin-glycerate (Sn-Gly) spheres were synthesized through a simple solvothermal strategy, which was further thermally converted into SnO₂. It is found that the loose SnO₂ spheres have been built up from nanoparticles with about 10 nm in size. The use of such SnO₂ nanostructures was further performed for low-ppm-level acetone detection. The results showed that the SnO₂ presented response of 123 to 100 ppm acetone vapor at 260 °C. The sensor also exhibited rapid response/recovery time (24.5 s/6.5 s), low detection limit (1.5 at 1 ppm), excellent selectivity, and good reproducibility. Especially, a good linearity ranging from 1 to 100 ppm acetone was fitted, making it a promising candidate for acetone detection.