Enhanced xylene sensing performance of hierarchical flower-like Co 3 O 4 via In doping

Metal ions doping is a typical approach for tuning sensing properties of metal oxide semiconductors based gas sensors. Herein, hierarchical flower-like pure and In-doped Co 3 O 4 nanostructures assembled by porous two-dimensional (2D) nanosheets are synthesized via a solvothermal method and annealing process. The sensing measurements display that the In@Co 3 O 4 -4 based sensor possesses high response value of 55.9 toward 100 ppm xylene at 150 °C, which is nearly 3.8 times larger than that of pure Co 3 O 4 sensor. Furthermore, it possesses good selectivity and anti-humidity properties. Combined with the results of DFT calculations, the mechanism of enhanced gas sensing performance is analyzed systematically.