Preparation and Gas Sensing Performance of Hierarchical Porous ZnO-based Materials with Sunflower Rods as a Biological Template

Abstract

A graded porous structure SnO₂/ZnO composite was prepared with sunflower rods as a biological template. The prepared samples were subjected to phase analysis by scanning electron microscopy(SEM), transmission electron microscopy(TEM), X-ray diffractiometry(XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS). ZnO sample was a pure phase of hexagonal wurtzite, and the template had been completely removed. The surface of the sample presented a honeycomb-like structure of a sunflower rod template, which was formed by interconnecting the porous channels, and had a smaller average size and exhibited n-n heterojunction at the n-type ZnO interface. Compared with that of pure ZnO, the response of the hierarchical porous structure SnO₂/ZnO composite to 100 mg/L n-butanol reached a maximum of 40.61 at 240 °C, about 2.7 times higher than that of pure ZnO. Its response time and recovery time are 6 and 3 s, respectively, which are also better than those of pure ZnO. SnO₂/ZnO composite exhibits good gas selectivity, which is related to the improvement of the structure and the forming of n-n heterojunctions of the material.

Keywords

Sunflower stem / SnO₂/ZnO / Graded porous structure / Gas sensitivity / n-Butanol

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