Enhanced ethanol sensing performance of N-doped ZnO derived from ZIF-8

Metal oxides derived from metal-organic framework (MOF) have attracted considerable attention due to its excellent performance and unique structure. Doping is considered as an effective method to improve gas-sensing performance. However, nonmetal doped metal oxides derived from MOF as gas-sensing materials have not been reported. Within this work, N atoms were successfully doped into the lattice of ZnO nanoparticles using ZIF-8 as a self-sacrificial template through a thermal treatment process with the assistant of urea. The obtained N-ZnO exhibited competitive ethanol-sensing performance, in which the response value of N-ZnO-5 to 100 ppm ethanol reached 115 at 190 °C with a satisfactory selectivity. It was found that the N-doping in ZnO facilitated the formation of oxygen vacancy that promoted the generation of adsorbed oxygen species to achieve the enhanced gas-sensing performance. Besides, the larger specific surface area resulting from the size reduction during the urea-assisted pyrolysis process can also be responsible for the improving of the ethanol-sensing performance.