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Enhanced H2S gas sensing properties by the optimization of p-CuO/n-ZnO composite nanofibers

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Abstract

Recently, metal oxide nanomaterials-based gas sensors have been widely applied in the detection of hydrogen sulfide (H2S). In this work, the optimal composition of CuO and ZnO in CuO/ZnO nanofibers (CZ NFs) gas sensor to improve its gas sensing performances has been first proposed. In this work, pure CuO NFs and CZ composite NFs with different molar ratios were prepared by the facile electrospinning method. A series of detection was carried out to examine the gas sensing performances of pure CuO NFs and CZ NFs. The results indicated that the CZ4 (CuO/ZnO = 1:2) NFs sensor achieved the highest response (31.472 ± 0.7997) toward 50 ppm H2S gas at 180 °C compared with other sensors fabricated in this experiment. The gas sensing mechanism of pure CuO and CZ NFs sensors was described in detail. The results indicated that the H2S sensing performances of CZ NFs could be effectively improved by optimizing the composition of CZ NFs. Furthermore, the p–n junctions between ZnO and CuO in the CZ NFs also played an important role to enhance the response of CZ composites NFs toward H2S.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Number 61704098) and the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (ZR2017BF025).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shandong University of Technology, Zibo, 255049, Shandong, People’s Republic of China

    Chao Fan & Bo Liu

  2. Laboratory of Functional Molecules and Materials, School of Physics and Optoelectronic Engineering, Shandong University of Technology, Zibo, 255049, Shandong, People’s Republic of China

    Chao Fan, Xiaomei Wang, Mahyar Majidi, Zuzhen Huang, Parveen Kumar & Bo Liu

  3. Analysis and Testing Center, Shandong University of Technology, Zibo, 255049, Shandong, People’s Republic of China

    Fazhe Sun

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  1. Chao Fan
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Fan, C., Sun, F., Wang, X. et al. Enhanced H2S gas sensing properties by the optimization of p-CuO/n-ZnO composite nanofibers. J Mater Sci 55, 7702–7714 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-020-04569-8

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