Facile production of self-assembly hierarchical dumbbell-like CoOOH nanostructures and their room-temperature CO-gas-sensing properties

In this paper, we report a simple and novel coordination compound precursor route to synthesize the hierarchical dumbbell-like CoOOH nanostructures in high yield. A possible growth mechanism governing the formation of such nanostructures is discussed. The CO-gas-sensing properties of the as-synthesized nanostructures are investigated in detail. The dumbbell-like CoOOH nanostructures have a large active surface area of {110} facets, which can provide sufficient space for the interaction between CoOOH and the detected gases. As a result, the as-prepared dumbbell-like CoOOH nanostructures exhibit a superior sensitivity to CO at room temperature, as well as good reproducibility and short response/recovery times. The as-prepared CoOOH nanostructures could have potential applications in nanosensors.