Solvothermal synthesis of porous CuFe2O4 nanospheres for high performance acetone sensor

Porous CuFe2O4 nanospheres were successfully prepared via a facile solvothermal method with subsequent calcination treatment. Various techniques were employed to investigate the structural and morphological characteristics of the as-synthesized product. The results revealed that the hierarchical CuFe2O4 porous nanospheres with a diameter of about 200 nm were composed of many nanoparticles. In addition, gas sensors were fabricated with the as-prepared samples, and their gas sensing performances were systematically investigated. Compared with pure CuO and Fe2O3 nanoparticles, the CuFe2O4 nanostructure exhibited superior gas sensing properties toward acetone at the operating temperature of 250 °C, including high response, outstanding selectivity, and excellent response-recovery property.