Highly sensitive and selective ethanol sensors based on porous Co3O4 nanobelts synthesized through a facile wet-chemistry method

Abstract

This work presents the novel porous Co3O4 nanobelts synthesized through a facile wet-chemical method. The as-prepared samples are characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy dispersive spectrum (EDS), and Brunauere Emmette Teller (BET) measurements. The results show that the porous Co3O4 nanobelts are almost 1 μm in length, 50 nm in width, and 10 nm in thickness. And, the porous Co3O4 nanobelts are ultra-thin and full of numerous mesopores. The porous Co3O4 nanobelts exhibit excellent sensitivity and selectivity properties to ethanol, and the detecting limit is lower to 1 ppm. The sensing mechanism also has been discussed. It can be expected that the novel morphology of the Co3O4 nanomaterials may bring amazing development for gas sensing detection.