One-pot synthesis and gas sensing properties of ZnO mesoporous architectures

Strawberry-like ZnO mesoporous architectures with size of about 1 μm have been synthesized by a one-pot solvothermal approach in the presence of methanol, zinc nitrate hexahydrate, and polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP), which was utilized to control the size, morphology, and agglomeration of ZnO particles. The measured surface area is 57.7 m2/g and the pore size is ca. 2–10 nm. Gas sensing tests showed that the strawberry-like ZnO mesoporous material exhibited superior gas sensing performances to ethanol and acetone due to high reaction surface area and abundant mesochannels. This synthesis approach featured low cost and easy operation will provide a possible strategy to synthesize other oxides with mesoporous structure for gas sensing application.