Influence of Nickel Doping on Ultrahigh Toluene Sensing Performance of Core-Shell ZnO Microsphere Gas Sensor
Zhenhua Li,
Sijia Li,
Zijian Song,
Xueli Yang,
Ziyan Wang,
Hao Zhang,
Lanlan Guo,
Caixuan Sun,
Hongyan Liu,
Junkai Shao,
Yehong Cheng,
Guofeng Pan
Affiliations
Zhenhua Li
Tianjin Key Laboratory of Electronic Materials and Devices, School of Electronics and Information Engineering, Hebei University of Technology, 5340 Xiping Road, Beichen District, Tianjin 300401, China
Sijia Li
Tianjin Key Laboratory of Electronic Materials and Devices, School of Electronics and Information Engineering, Hebei University of Technology, 5340 Xiping Road, Beichen District, Tianjin 300401, China
Zijian Song
Tianjin Key Laboratory of Electronic Materials and Devices, School of Electronics and Information Engineering, Hebei University of Technology, 5340 Xiping Road, Beichen District, Tianjin 300401, China
Xueli Yang
Tianjin Key Laboratory of Electronic Materials and Devices, School of Electronics and Information Engineering, Hebei University of Technology, 5340 Xiping Road, Beichen District, Tianjin 300401, China
Ziyan Wang
Tianjin Key Laboratory of Electronic Materials and Devices, School of Electronics and Information Engineering, Hebei University of Technology, 5340 Xiping Road, Beichen District, Tianjin 300401, China
Hao Zhang
Tianjin Key Laboratory of Materials Laminating Fabrication and Interface Control Technology, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Hebei University of Technology, Tianjin 300130, China
Lanlan Guo
School of Physics and Electronic Information Engineering, Henan Polytechnic University, Jiaozuo 454003, China
Caixuan Sun
Tianjin Key Laboratory of Electronic Materials and Devices, School of Electronics and Information Engineering, Hebei University of Technology, 5340 Xiping Road, Beichen District, Tianjin 300401, China
Hongyan Liu
Tianjin Key Laboratory of Electronic Materials and Devices, School of Electronics and Information Engineering, Hebei University of Technology, 5340 Xiping Road, Beichen District, Tianjin 300401, China
Junkai Shao
Tianjin Key Laboratory of Electronic Materials and Devices, School of Electronics and Information Engineering, Hebei University of Technology, 5340 Xiping Road, Beichen District, Tianjin 300401, China
Yehong Cheng
School of Mechanical Engineering, Hebei University of Technology, Tianjin 300401, China
Guofeng Pan
Tianjin Key Laboratory of Electronic Materials and Devices, School of Electronics and Information Engineering, Hebei University of Technology, 5340 Xiping Road, Beichen District, Tianjin 300401, China
As a volatile organic compound, toluene is extremely harmful to the environment and human health. In this work, through a simple one-step solvothermal method, Ni-doped ZnO sensitive materials (0.5, 1, and 2 at% Ni-doped ZnO) with a core-shell morphology were synthesized for the first time for toluene gas detection. The sensing test results showed that the sensor based on 1 at% Ni-doped ZnO exhibited the best toluene sensing performance. The response was up to 210 to 100 ppm toluene at 325 °C. The sensor exhibited high selectivity, fast response/recovery characteristics (2/77 s), and low detection limit (500 ppb, 3.5). Furthermore, we carried out molecular-level research on the sensitive material prepared in this experiment by various characterization methods. The SEM characterization results showed that ZnO and Ni-doped ZnO possessed the core-shell morphology, and the average grain size decreased with the increase in the Ni doping content. The UV–Vis test showed that the band gap of ZnO became smaller with the increase in the Ni doping amount. The enhanced toluene sensing performance of 1 at% Ni-doped ZnO could be ascribed to the structural sensitization and Ni doping sensitization, which are discussed in detail in the sensing mechanism section.
