AUTHOR=Zhou Hang , Xu Keng , Yang Yong , Yu Ting , Yuan Cailei , Wei Wenyan , Sun Yue , Lu Wenhui 

TITLE=One-Dimensional Zinc Oxide Decorated Cobalt Oxide Nanospheres for Enhanced Gas-Sensing Properties

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Chemistry

VOLUME=6

YEAR=2018

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/chemistry/articles/10.3389/fchem.2018.00628

DOI=10.3389/fchem.2018.00628

ISSN=2296-2646

ABSTRACT=<p>In this study, one-dimensional (1D) zinc oxide was loaded on the surface of cobalt oxide microspheres, which were assembled by single-crystalline porous nanosheets, via a simple heteroepitaxial growth process. This elaborate structure possessed an excellent transducer function from the single-crystalline feature of Co<sub>3</sub>O<sub>4</sub> nanosheets and the receptor function from the zinc oxide nanorods. The structure of the as-prepared hybrid was confirmed via a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and a Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM). Gas-sensing tests showed that the gas-sensing properties of the as-designed hybrid were largely improved. The response was about 161 (R<sub>a</sub>/R<sub>g</sub>) to 100 ppm ethanol, which is 110 and 10 times higher than that of Co<sub>3</sub>O<sub>4</sub> (R<sub>g</sub>/R<sub>a</sub> = 1.47) and ZnO (R<sub>a</sub>/R<sub>g</sub> = 15), respectively. And the as-designed ZnO/Co<sub>3</sub>O<sub>4</sub> hybrid also showed a high selectivity to ethanol. The superior gas-sensing properties were mainly attributed to the as-designed nanostructures that contained a super transducer function and a super receptor function. The design strategy for gas-sensing materials in this work shed a new light on the exploration of high-performance gas sensors.</p>