Dimethyl sulfoxide-assisted hydrothermal synthesis of Co_2O_4-based nanorods for selective and sensitive diethyl ether sensing

摘要

Herein, the mesoporous Co3O4-based nanorods were obtained by heat treatment of dimethyl sulfoxide-assisted hydrothermal-synthesized products at 300 degrees C and probe the composition, structure and morphology by several instrumental techniques. Additionally, we investigate the ability of the nanorods to sense several gaseous organic compounds, such as diethyl ether, ethanol, and acetone, demonstrating that the sensor based on the nanorods exhibits long-term stability and excellent responsiveness to diethyl ether (detection limit = 0.5 ppm) at an operating temperature of 160 degrees C. The formation of the nanorods and the mechanism of diethyl ether sensing are discussed in detail, and the superior sensor performance is ascribed to the nanorods with abundant porosity and Co3O4 with numerous defects, which facilitates the adsorption of oxygen on the sensor surface.