Self-sacrificial templated formation of ZnO with decoration of catalysts for regulating CO and CH4 sensitive detection

Herein, the enhanced CO and CH4 sensing properties were realized by changing the dopant of metal catalysts and controlling the particle size of ZnO nanostructure. A new 3D structure of {[Zn-3(L)(OH)(H2O)]center dot 6(DMF)center dot 8(CH3OH)center dot 4(H2O)}(n) (HPU-18) was first generated, and then in-situ Ni2+ doping was used to prepare Ni@HPU-18. The CO sensing properties showed that the cubic-like NiO/ZnO composite prepared by calcining Ni@HPU-18 exhibit higher response value (6.81) to CO. The CH4 sensing performance can be realized when the dimension of ZnO was changed into small size and then modified with Pd nanoparticles. Besides, the adsorption energy of NiO/ZnO and Pd/ZnO surfaces to CO or CH4 was calculated using first principles calculations, it's revealed that the enhanced CO and CH4 sensing performance of NiO/ZnO and Pd/ZnO can be mainly attributed to the different catalytic effects of catalysts, particle size, and heterojunction effect.

Automated summary

Enhanced CO and CH4 sensing properties were achieved by changing the dopant of metal catalysts and controlling the particle size of ZnO nanostructures. The in-situ Ni2+ doping and Pd nanoparticles modification play a significant role in influencing the sensing performance.