Porous ZnO Ultrathin Nanosheets with High Specific Surface Areas and Abundant Oxygen Vacancies for Acetylacetone Gas Sensing

Abstract

In this study, porous ZnO ultrathin nanosheets with abundant surface oxygen vacancies were prepared by a hydrothermal technique followed by an annealing method using graphene oxide (GO) as a template. The high specific surface area of GO with ultrathin thickness provided an important template for the ZnO ultrathin nanosheets. The as-prepared porous ZnO ultrathin nanosheets exhibited superior acetylacetone sensing performance. The sensor response of the porous ZnO ultrathin nanosheets was 191.1 for 100 ppm acetylacetone, which was approximately 4 times higher than that of ZnO clusters (prepared without GO template) at 340 °C. The porous ZnO ultrathin nanosheets also exhibited excellent selectivity and operational stability. The excellent gas sensing performance of the porous ZnO ultrathin nanosheets was due to their high specific surface area (130.5 m2/g) and abundant surface oxygen vacancy.