High performance of gas sensor based on Bi-doped ZnSnO3/CuO nanocomposites for acetone

Bi-doped ZnSnO3/CuO composite (Bi–ZnSnO3/CuO) was synthesized by in situ precipitation in this study. The material structure, morphology, size, specific surface area, and surface composition were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) method, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Bi–ZnSnO3/CuO composite had a profoundly porous structure. CuO was bolstered on the surface of cubic ZnSnO3. The addition of Bi and CuO effectively expanded the substance of oxygen vacancies and chemisorbed oxygen of ZnSnO3/CuO. Gas-sensing test results appeared that Bi–ZnSnO3/CuO had excellent gas-sensing performances for acetone, with a 386.19 sensitivity to 100 ppm acetone under an optimal operating temperature of 375 °C and a response/recovery time of 4 s/12.5 s. The excellent improvement in the gas-sensing performances of Bi–ZnSnO3/CuO over those of ZnSnO3 can be due to the rich mesoporous structure and the arrangement of a large number of oxygen defects and p-n heterojunctions. Excellent gas-sensing performances make Bi–ZnSnO3/CuO an ideal sensing material for acetone gas.