Green light-driven acetone gas sensor based on electrospinned CdS nanospheres/Co3O4 nanofibers hybrid for the detection of exhaled diabetes biomarker

Morphological and structural characteristics of semiconductors have a significant impact on their gas sensing characteristics. Reasonable design and synthesis of heterojunctions with special structures can effectively improve sensor performance. Herein, a cobalt oxide (Co3O4) nanofibers/cadmium sulfide (CdS) nanospheres hybrid was synthesized by an electrospinning method combined with a hydrothermal method to detect acetone gas. By adjusting loading amount of CdS, the sensing performance of CdS/Co3O4 sensor for acetone at room temperature (25 °C) was greatly ameliorated. In particular, the response of CdS/Co3O4 to 50 ppm acetone gas increased by 25% under 520 nm green light, meanwhile, the response/recovery time was shortened to 5 s/4 s. This is attributed to the heterojunction formed between CdS and Co3O4 as well as the influence of light excitation on the carrier concentration of the surfaces. Meanwhile, the unique high-porosity fiber structure and the catalytic action of cobalt ions also play an essential role in improving the performance. Furthermore, practical diabetic breath was experimentally simulated and proved the potential of the sensor in the future application of disease-assisted diagnosis.