Simple synthesis of porous ZnO nanoplates hyper-doped with low concentration of Pt for efficient acetone sensing

Abstract

The realization of accurate and real-time monitoring of hazardous gases has received much recent attention. To facilitate the detection of toxic gases, multifarious nanofabrication techniques have been explored to make various gas sensors with excellent sensitivity, good reliability, and fast response/recovery available. In this contribution, two-dimensional (2D) porous ZnO nanoplates (NPs) hyper-dispersed with low concentration of Pt were synthesized via a convenient hydrothermal reaction followed by in-situ calcination when aged sensor film on the alumina tubes. Applying acetone as a probe molecule, gas sensing characteristics of both pristine ZnO and Pt-doped ZnO NPs were systematically investigated. The results have been proved that the as-prepared 0.01 mol% Pt-doped ZnO NPs sensor showed marked sensitivity toward acetone over 11 times higher than that of the pure ZnO sensor. Also, 0.01% Pt-doped ZnO NPs sensor exhibited superior selectivity against other reference gases, and outstanding trace sensing capability (Ra/Rg = 1.64–100 ppb). Probably both the hyper-dispersion of Pt species and the abundant surficial oxygen species jointly responsible for enhanced sensing performance of the obtained hybrid materials.