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Tailoring the surface morphology of nanostructured cobalt oxide for high-sensitivity CO sensor

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Abstract

The development of efficient carbon monoxide (CO) gas sensors with earth abundance and low cost is very important in gas sensing applications. The cobalt oxide material with various morphologies and structures demonstrates different gas sensing properties. In this work, different morphologies of nanostructured spinel cobalt oxide (Co3O4) have been synthesized by pulsed laser ablation in liquid media (PLAL) using high-purity cobalt as a target in several ethanol/water mixtures. The gas properties of the fabricated Co3O4-based sensors were investigated toward CO gas at various gas concentrations and operating temperatures. Several characterization techniques including TEM, XRD, XPS, and Raman spectroscopy were utilized to study the chemical and physical properties of the fabricated samples. The obtained results displayed that the morphology of the nanostructured Co3O4 could be controlled by altering the ethanol concentrations in the ablation media. Compared with the Co3O4 nanoparticles prepared by laser ablation in water, the Co3O4 nanosheets/flakes prepared at 70% ethanol exhibited superior sensitivity characteristics. A sensitivity of 360% was achieved at 300 °C and 200 ppm of CO. These results reordered for Co3O4 nanosheets/flakes demonstrate a brand-new approach for the fabrication of low-detection-limit CO sensors.

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Acknowledgements

MA extends his appreciation to the Deputyship for Research & Innovation, Ministry of Education, Saudi Arabia, for funding his research work through the project number IF-2020-022-Sci at Imam Abdulrahman bin Faisail University. QAD acknowledges the IRC-HES for providing the analysis facilities.

Funding

Deputyship for Research and Innovation, Ministry of Education in Saudi Arabia, F-2020-022-Sci.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Basic Sciences, Deanship of Preparatory Year and Supporting Studies, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, P.O. Box 1982, Dammām, 31441, Saudi Arabia

    Muidh Alheshibri

  2. Basic and Applied Scientific Research Centre, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, P.O. Box 1982, Dammām, 31441, Saudi Arabia

    Muidh Alheshibri & Abbad Al Baroot

  3. Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, King Faisal University, P.O. Box 400, Al-Hasa, 31982, Saudi Arabia

    N. M. Shaalan & A. Aljaafari

  4. Physics Department, Faculty of Science, Assiut University, Assiut, 71516, Egypt

    N. M. Shaalan

  5. Interdisciplinary Research Center for Hydrogen and Energy Storage (IRC-HES), King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM), Dhahran, 31261, Saudi Arabia

    Q. A. Drmosh

  6. Department of Basic Engineering Sciences, College of Engineering, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, P.O. Box 1982, Dammām, 31441, Saudi Arabia

    Abbad Al Baroot & Khaled Elsayed

  7. Department of Biophysics, Institute for Research and Medical Consultations (IRMC), Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, P.O. Box 1982, Dammām, 31441, Saudi Arabia

    Sultan Akhtar

  8. EXPEC Advanced Research Centre, Saudi Aramco, Dhahran, 31311, Saudi Arabia

    Hassan S. Al Qahtani

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  1. Muidh Alheshibri
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  2. N. M. Shaalan
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  3. Q. A. Drmosh
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  4. Abbad Al Baroot
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  5. Sultan Akhtar
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  6. A. Aljaafari
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  7. Hassan S. Al Qahtani
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  8. Khaled Elsayed
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Correspondence to Muidh Alheshibri or Q. A. Drmosh.

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Alheshibri, M., Shaalan, N.M., A. Drmosh, Q. et al. Tailoring the surface morphology of nanostructured cobalt oxide for high-sensitivity CO sensor. J Mater Sci 57, 12865–12874 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-022-07438-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-022-07438-8