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Preparation of porous sea-urchin-like CuO/ZnO composite nanostructure consisting of numerous nanowires with improved gas-sensing performance

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Abstract

A sea-urchin-like CuO/ZnO porous nanostructure is obtained via a simple solution method followed by a calcination process. There are abundant pores among the resulting nanowires due to the thermal decomposition of copper—zinc hydroxide carbonate. The specific surface area of the as-prepared CuO/ZnO sample is determined as 31.3 m2·g−1. The gas-sensing performance of the sea-urchin-like CuO/ZnO sensor is studied by exposure to volatile organic compound (VOC) vapors. With contrast to a pure porous sea-urchin-like ZnO sensor, the sea-urchin-like CuO/ZnO sensor shows superior gas-sensing behavior for acetone, formaldehyde, methanol, toluene, isopropanol and ethanol. It exhibits a high response of 52.6–100 ppm acetone vapor, with short response/recovery time. This superior sensing behavior is mainly ascribed to the porous nanowire-assembled structure with abundant p—n heterojunctions.

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Acknowledgements

This study was funded by grant Anhui Laboratory of Functional Coordinated Complexes for Materials Chemistry and Application (LFCCMCA-09), Anhui Laboratory of Clean Energy Materials and Chemistry for Sustainable Conversion of Natural Resources (LCECSC-01) and Natural Science Research Project for Universities in Anhui Province (KJ2019A0480).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Anhui Polytechnic University, Wuhu, 241000, China

    Haibo Ren, Huaipeng Weng, Pengfei Zhao & Ruzhong Zuo

  2. College of Chemistry and Materials Science, Anhui Normal University, Key Laboratory of Functional Molecular Solids (Ministry of Education), Wuhu, 241002, China

    Haibo Ren, Xiaojing Lu & Jiarui Huang

  3. Modern Technology Center, Anhui Polytechnic University, Wuhu, 41000, China

    Haibo Ren

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  1. Haibo Ren
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  2. Huaipeng Weng
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  4. Ruzhong Zuo
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  5. Xiaojing Lu
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Correspondence to Haibo Ren, Ruzhong Zuo or Jiarui Huang.

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Ren, H., Weng, H., Zhao, P. et al. Preparation of porous sea-urchin-like CuO/ZnO composite nanostructure consisting of numerous nanowires with improved gas-sensing performance. Front. Mater. Sci. 16, 220583 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11706-022-0583-y

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