Study on room temperature gas-sensing performance of CuO film-decorated ordered porous ZnO composite by In(2)O(3) sensitization

For the first time, ordered mesoporous ZnO nanoparticles have been synthesized by a template method. The electroplating after chemical plating method was creatively used to form copper film on the surface of the prepared ZnO, and then a CuO film-decorated ordered porous ZnO composite (CuO/ZnO) was obtained by a high-temperature oxidation method. In(2)O(3) was loaded into the prepared CuO film–ZnO by an ultrasonic-assisted method to sensitize the room temperature gas-sensing performance of the prepared CuO/ZnO materials. The doped In(2)O(3) could effectively improve the gas-sensing properties of the prepared materials to nitrogen oxides (NO(x)) at room temperature. The 1% In(2)O(3) doped CuO/ZnO sample (1 wt% In(2)O(3)–CuO/ZnO) showed the best gas-sensing properties whose response to 100 ppm NO(x) reached 82%, and the detectable minimum concentration reached 1 ppm at room temperature. The prepared materials had a good selectivity, better response, very low detection limit, and high sensitivity to NO(x) gas at room temperature, which would have a great development space in the gas sensor field and a great research value.