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Increasing sensitivity of ZnO nanoparticles by hydrogenation and sensing reaction mechanism

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Abstract

Sensing reaction mechanism is decisive for improvement of the sensing property of metal oxide sensing materials. Herein, we demonstrated a conceptually different approach to improving sensing property of ZnO nanoparticles by increasing quantity of the surface unsaturated 3-coordinated Zn atoms through hydrogenation. The surface 3-coordinated Zn atoms play a pivotal role in sensing reaction. They can produce electrons, adsorb O2 and catalyze the gas sensing reaction between the adsorbed oxygen and test gas. A sensing mechanism of the unsaturated Zn atom serving as a sensing reactive site is presented for the first time. The mechanism provides a deep understanding for sensing and catalytic reaction mechanisms. In addition, the sensing performance of other sensing materials and reactive activity of catalysts may be enhanced by increasing concentration of surface unsaturated metal atom through hydrogenation.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 51872178, 51702204 and 201501116), the National Key Research Program of China (Grant No. 2016YFA0202403), DNL Cooperation Fund CAS (Grant No. DNL180311), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Grant No. 2017M613051), and the 111 Project (Grant No. B14041).

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  1. Shaanxi Key Laboratory for Advanced Energy Devices, Shaanxi Engineering Laboratory for Advanced Energy Technology, Key Laboratory of Macromolecular Science of Shaanxi Province, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an, 710119, China

    Cuijin Pei, Bin Liu, Junfang Liu, Yukun Yuan, Miao Wang, Ye Wang, Hua Zhao & Heqing Yang

  2. School of Science, Xi’an University of Posts and Telecommunications, Xi’an, 710121, China

    Cuijin Pei

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  1. Cuijin Pei
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Pei, C., Liu, B., Liu, J. et al. Increasing sensitivity of ZnO nanoparticles by hydrogenation and sensing reaction mechanism. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 30, 17674–17681 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-019-02117-y

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