Fabrication of porous Zn <sub>2</sub> TiO <sub>4</sub> –ZnO microtubes and analysis of their acetone gas sensing properties
Xiao‐Yan Chen, Xinzhen Wang, Fengjun Liu, Guosong Zhang, Xiaojie Song, Jian Tian, Hongzhi Cui
Abstract
Abstract Porous Zn 2 TiO 4 –ZnO microtubes have been successfully fabricated using chemical precipitation followed by a calcination process using a carbon fiber template. The porous Zn 2 TiO 4 –ZnO microtubes with a diameter of ~ 4 μm consisted of Zn 2 TiO 4 and ZnO nanoparticles. These displayed worm‐like pore structures. Carbon fibers played an important role during the porous Zn 2 TiO 4 –ZnO microtube formation process. The porous and hollow structure of Zn 2 TiO 4 –ZnO provided abundant active sensing sites and channels for gas adsorption and diffusion. The porous Zn 2 TiO 4 –ZnO microtubes exhibited improved gas sensing properties for acetone when compared with pure ZnO. The Zn 2 TiO 4 –ZnO sensor response was 33.4 for 100 μg·ml −1 acetone at the optimum operating temperature (370 °C). This was ~ 2.7 times higher than that of pure ZnO. Additionally, the as‐prepared porous Zn 2 TiO 4 –ZnO microtubes displayed sufficient long‐term acetone stability and selectivity. This showed the potential application for acetone detection. The enhanced Zn 2 TiO 4 –ZnO gas sensing properties are due to the unique heterogeneous and porous structure, which was analyzed using the porous and band structure.