A high response butanol gas sensor based on ZnO hollow spheres.

ZnO hollow spheres with high crystallinity were prepared successfully via a simple template process using ZnCl 2 , carbamide and polystyrene spheres (PSS) as raw materials. The structural and morphological characterizations of the samples were carried out by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), respectively. Indirect-heating sensor using ZnO hollow spheres as sensing materials was fabricated on an alumina tube with Au electrodes and Pt wires. The gas sensing properties of the as-synthesized ZnO hollow spheres for n -butanol were investigated. It is shown that the sensor exhibited good sensing performances, characterized by high response, very short response time, and stability to n -butanol gas at operating temperature of 385 °C. These results indicate that the ZnO hollow spheres are highly promising candidates for practical detectors for n -butanol. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]