Ultrasensitive acetone sensor based on holey zinc oxide nanosheets doped by gold nanoparticles

•Au doped holey ZnO nanosheets were prepared by hydrothermal method.•The Au doped holey ZnO sensors show ultra-sensitivity and selectivity to acetone.•The sensor can be used in medical diagnosis. Acetone is a biomarker and the concentration is very low in human breath gas. A simple and noninvasive method for the trace determination of acetone is important for medical diagnosis. An ultrasensitive acetone sensor based on gold doped zinc oxide nanosheets has been developed for detecting acetone. The Au doped ZnO nanosheets were prepared by a facile hydrothermal method with calcination process. The composite was composed of 10 nm gold nanospheres and holey ZnO nanosheets with 25 nm thickness. Due to the high specific surface area, small crystallite size of the holy ZnO nanosheets and the catalytic effect of gold nanoparticles, the sensor based on the composite shows ultra-sensitivity and selectivity to acetone (1012.6/100 ppm) and the detection limit is 0.2 ppm.