ZnO–CuO Core-Hollow Cube Nanostructures for Highly Sensitive Acetone Gas Sensors at the ppb Level

This paper presents a ZnO–CuO p–n heterojunction chemiresistive sensor that comprises CuO hollow nanocubes attached to ZnO spherical cores as active materials. These ZnO–CuO core-hollow cube nanostructures exhibit a remarkable response of 11.14 at 1 ppm acetone and 200 °C, which is a superior result to those reported by other metal-oxide-based sensors. The response can be measured up to 40 ppb, and the limit of detection is estimated as 9 ppb. ZnO–CuO core-hollow cube nanostructures also present high selectivity toward acetone against other volatile organic compounds and demonstrate excellent stability for up to 40 days. The outstanding gas-sensing performance of the developed nanocubes is attributed to their uniform and unique morphology. Their core–shell-like structures allow the main charge transfer pathways to pass the interparticle p–p junctions, and the p–n junctions in each particle increase the sensitivity of the reactions to gas molecules. The small grain size and high surface area of each domain also enhance the surface gas adsorption.