Abstract
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) have been considered severe risks to human health. Gas sensors for the sensitive detection of VOCs are highly required. However, the preparation of gas-sensing materials with a high gas diffusion performance remains a great challenge. Here, through a simple hydrothermal method accompanied with a subsequent thermal treatment, a special porous snowflake-shaped ZnO nanostructure was presented for sensitive detection of VOCs including diethyl ether, methylbenzene, and ethanol. The fabricated gas sensors exhibit a good sensing performance including high responses to VOCs and a short response/recovery time. The responses of the ZnO-based gas sensor to 100 ppm ethanol, methylbenzene, and diethyl ether are about 27, 21, and 11, respectively, while the response times to diethyl ether and methylbenzene are less than 10 seconds. The gas adsorption-desorption kinetics is also investigated, which shows that the gas-sensing behaviors to different target gases are remarkably different, making it possible for target recognition in practical applications.
Highlights
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as diethyl ether and methylbenzene, which are commonly released from chemical reagents, or even building paints, have been considered severe risks to human health [1, 2]
For the fabrication of gas sensors based on the prepared ZnO nanostructures, first, a certain amount of the ZnO were dispersed in absolute alcohol by ultrasonication for 20 min
A porous snowflake-shaped ZnO nanostructure was presented for gas-sensing detection of VOCs including diethyl ether, methylbenzene, and ethanol
Summary
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as diethyl ether and methylbenzene, which are commonly released from chemical reagents, or even building paints, have been considered severe risks to human health [1, 2]. Among many other detection methods, gas sensors-based systems are attractive because of their lowcost, high stability, simple operation procedures, and so forth [3,4,5,6]. Once the dimensions of the materials are reduced, the overlap and aggregation issues within the thick sensing layer of sensors commonly become severe due to the high surface energy of small particles, reducing the effective contact between sensing sites and target gas molecules. Porous structure has been considered a promising method to improve the diffusion of gases and their contact with sensing sites which locate at deep layer. The snowflake-shaped ZnO nanostructures were systemically characterized, and the gas-sensing performance to VOCs including diethyl ether, methylbenzene, and ethanol was demonstrated
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