Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Synthesis of hollow spherical nickel oxide and its gas-sensing properties

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Rare Metals Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Semiconductor metal oxides have attracted wide attention in the area of gas sensor due to that they have unique advantages in the rapid and accurate detection of harmful gases. A simple strategy is to synthesize porous NiO hollow microspheres via a simple hydrothermal method with trisodium citrate as structure guide agent is presented in this paper, and the shell of the microsphere is composed of porous and lamellar assembly units. The cavity proportion can be adjusted by changing the amount of trisodium citrate. A reasonable mechanism was proposed to explain the formation of porous NiO hollow microspheres. As a gas-sensing material, porous NiO hollow microspheres show excellent gas selectivity and rapid response recovery time for n-butyl alcohol gas. When the content of trisodium citrate was 0.10 g, the synthesized hollow sphere NiO had the highest response value (25.6) to 100 × 10–6 of n-butyl alcohol at 300 °C and the response and recovery times were only 68 and 10 s.

Graphic Abstract

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Bhati VS, Hojamberdiev M, Kumar M. Enhanced sensing performance of ZnO nanostructures-based gas sensors: a review. Energy Reports. 2020;6:46.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Yu HL, Wang J, Zheng B, Zhang BW, Liu LQ, Zhou YW, Zhang C, Xue XL. Fabrication of single crystalline WO3 nano-belts based photoelectric gas sensor for detection of high concentration ethanol gas at room temperature. Sens Actuators, A. 2020;303:111865.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Srinivas C, Kumar E, Tirupanyam BV, Meena S, Bhatt P, Prajapat CL, Rao TV, Sastry DL. Study of magnetic behavior in co-precipitated Ni-Zn ferrite nanoparticles. J. Magn. Magn. Mater. 2020;502:166543.

  4. Deepty M, Srinivas C, Kumar E, Ramesh PN, Mohan N, Meena S, Prajapat CL, Verma A, Sastry DL. Evaluation of structural and dielectric properties of Mn2+-substituted Zn-spinel ferrite nanoparticles for gas sensor applications. Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical. 2020;316:128127.

  5. Chen XY, Wang XZ, Liu FJ, Zhang GS, Song XJ, Tian J, Cui HZ. Fabrication of porous Zn2TiO4–ZnO microtubes and analysis of their acetone gas sensing properties. Rare Met. 2020. https://doi.org /10.1007 /s12598-020-01518-x

  6. Pan QN, Yang ZM, Wang WW, Zhang DZ. Sulfur dioxide gas sensing at room temperature based on tin selenium/tin dioxide hybrid prepared via hydrothermal and surface oxidation treatment. Rare Met. 2020. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12598-020-01575-2.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Liu W, Gu D, Li XG. Detection of ppb-level NO2 using mesoporous ZnSe/SnO2 core-shell microspheres based chemical sensors. Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical. 2020;320:128365.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Liu C, Zhao LP, Wang BQ, Sun P, Wang QJ, Gao Y, Liang XS, Zhang T, Lu GY. Acetone gas sensor based on NiO/ZnO hollow spheres: Fast response and recovery, and low (ppb) detection limit. J Colloid Interface Sci. 2017;495:207.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Steinebach H, Kannan S, Rieth L, Solzbacher F. H2 gas sensor performance of NiO at high temperatures in gas mixtures. Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical. 2010;151(1):162.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Xu YY, Tian X, Fan YR, Sun YQ. A formaldehyde gas sensor with improved gas response and sub-ppm level detection limit based on NiO/NiFe2O4 composite nanotetrahedrons. Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical. 2020;309:127719.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Chao JF, Chen YH, Xing SM, Zhang DL, Shen WL. Facile fabrication of ZnO/C nanoporous fibers and ZnO hollow spheres for high performance gas sensor. Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical. 2019;298:126927.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Chen FM, Chen ZL, Dai ZY, Wang SF, Zhang ZB, Chen DJ. Self-templating synthesis of carbon-encapsulated SnO2 hollow spheres: a promising anode material for lithium-ion batteries. J Alloys Compd. 2020;816:152495.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Li SQ, Liu A, Yang ZJ, Zhao LP, Wang J, Liu FM, You R, He JM, Wang CL, Yan X, Sun P, Liang XS, Lu GY. Design and preparation of the WO3 hollow spheres@PANI conducting films for room temperature flexible NH3 sensing device. Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical. 2019;289:252.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Li Y, Lu YL, Wu KD, Zhang DZ, Debliquy M, Zhang C. Microwave-assisted hydrothermal synthesis of copper oxide-based gas-sensitive nanostructures. Rare Met. 2020. https: //doi.org/ 10.1007 /s12598–020–01557–4.

  15. Dun MH, Tan JF, Tan WH, Tang MH, Huang XT. CdS quantum dots supported by ultrathin porous nanosheets assembled into hollowed-out Co3O4 microspheres: a room-temperature H2S gas sensor with ultra-fast response and recovery. Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical. 2019;298:126839.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Chu SS, Yang C, Su XT. Synthesis of NiO hollow nanospheres via Kirkendall effect and their enhanced gas sensing performance. Appl Surf Sci. 2019;492:82.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Feng J, Yin YD. Self-templating approaches to hollow nanostructures. Adv Mater. 2019;31(38):1802349.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Kim TH, Jeong SY, Moon YK, Lee JH. Dual-mode gas sensor for ultrasensitive and highly selective detection of xylene and toluene using Nb-doped NiO hollow spheres. Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical. 2019;301:127140.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Lu J, Xie YM, Luo FL, Fu H, Huang X, Liu YC, Liu HJ. Heterostructures of mesoporous hollow Zn2SnO4/SnO2 microboxes for high-performance acetone sensors. J Alloys Compd. 2020;844:155788.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Shafique S, Yang SM, Woldu YT, Wang YM. Hierarchical synthesis of urchin-like V2O5 hollow spheres and its photodetection properties. Sens Actuators, A. 2019;288:107.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Xiao M, Wang ZL, Lyu MQ, Wang SC, Liu G, Cheng HM. Hollow nanostructures for photocatalysis: advantages and challenges. Adv Mater. 2019;31(38):1801369.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Xue ZJ, Wang PL, Peng AD, Wang T. Architectural design of self-assembled hollow superstructures. Adv Mater. 2019;31(38):1801441.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Yan XY, Tong XL, Wang J, Gong CW, Zhang MG, Liang LP. Rational synthesis of hierarchically porous NiO hollow spheres and their supercapacitor application. Mater Lett. 2013;95:1.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Zhou JT, Tan RY, Yao ZJ, Lin HY, Li Z. Preparation of CoFe2O4 hollow spheres with carbon sphere templates and their wave absorption performance. Mater Chem Phys. 2020;244:122697.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Urso M, Leonardi SG, Neri G, Petralia S, Conoci S, Priolo F, Mirabella S. Acetone sensing and modelling by low-cost NiO nanowalls. Mater Lett. 2020;262:127043.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. Yang M, Lu JY, Wang X, Zhang H, Chen F, Sun JB, Yang JQ, Sun YF, Lu GY. Acetone sensors with high stability to humidity changes based on Ru-doped NiO flower-like microspheres. Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical. 2020;313:127965.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Zhou Q, Zeng W, Chen WG, Xu LN, Kumar R, Umar A. High sensitive and low-concentration sulfur dioxide (SO2) gas sensor application of heterostructure NiO-ZnO nanodisks. Sensor and Actuators B. 2019;298:126870.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. Bai JL, Zhao CH, Gong HM, Wang Q, Huang BY, Sun GZ, Wang YR, Zhou JY, Xie EQ, Wang F. Debye-length controlled gas sensing performances in NiO@ZnO p–n junctional core-shell nanotubes. J Phys D Appl Phys. 2019;52(28):285103.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. Jun YW, Casula MF, Sim JH, Kim SY, Cheon JW, Alivisatos AP. Surfactant-assisted elimination of a high energy facet as a means of controlling the shapes of TiO2 nanocrystals. J Am Chem Soc. 2003;125(51):15981.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. Bai SL, Zhang KW, Shu X, Chen S, Luo RX, Li DQ, Chen AF. Carboxyl-directed hydrothermal synthesis of WO3 nanostructures and their morphology-dependent gas-sensing properties. Cryst Eng Comm. 2014;16(44):10210.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  31. Fuller EN, Schettler PD, Giddings JC. New method for prediction of binary gas-phase diffusion coefficients. Ind Eng Chem. 1966;58(5):18.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by the Natural Science Basic Research Plan in Shaanxi Province of China (No. 2018JM2015), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. 3102017jc01001) and the National Key Research and Development Program of China (No. 2017YFC0211500).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an, 710072, China

    Wang-Chang Geng, Xin-Rou Cao, Shi-Lu Xu, Natasha Babar, Zi-Jun He & Qiu-Yu Zhang

  2. School of Automation, Northwestern Polytechnic University, Xi’an, 710072, China

    Jiang-Hua Yang

Authors
  1. Wang-Chang Geng
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Xin-Rou Cao
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Shi-Lu Xu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Jiang-Hua Yang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Natasha Babar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Zi-Jun He
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Qiu-Yu Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Wang-Chang Geng.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Geng, WC., Cao, XR., Xu, SL. et al. Synthesis of hollow spherical nickel oxide and its gas-sensing properties. Rare Met. 40, 1622–1631 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12598-020-01639-3

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12598-020-01639-3

Keywords

Search

Navigation