Highly selective CO2 sensing response of lanthanum oxide nanoparticle electrodes at ambient temperature

Lanthanum oxide nanoparticles (La2O3 NPs) are attractive rare earth metal oxides because of their applications in optical devices, catalysts, dielectric layers, and sensors. Herein, we report room temperature operative carbon dioxide gas sensing electrodes developed by a simple sonication assisted hydrothermal method. The physiochemical, morphological and gas-sensing properties of the prepared nanoparticles were studied systematically and their successful preparation was confirmed with the absence of impurities and high selectivity towards CO2. The fabricated sensor showed a high sensitivity of 40% towards CO2 at 50 ppm, and it can detect concentrations of up to 5 ppm with a quick response time of 6 s and recovery of 5 s. The electrode demonstrated long-term stability of 95% for 50 days when tested with an interval of 10 days. This simple and cost-effective method shows great potential for fabricating room temperature CO2 gas sensors.