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

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.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

copper oxide / zinc oxide / copper--zinc hydroxide carbonate / volatile organic compound / gas sensor

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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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