Flower-like hierarchical structures consisting of porous single-crystalline ZnO nanosheets and their gas sensing properties to volatile organic compounds (VOCs)

•Flower-like hierarchical structures consisting of porous single-crystalline ZnO nanosheets were synthesized.•The flower-like hierarchical structured ZnO exhibited higher response and shorter response and recovery times.•The sensing mechanism of the flower-like hierarchical has been systematically analyzed. Flower-like hierarchical structures consisting of porous single-crystalline ZnO nanosheets (FHPSCZNs) were synthesized by a one-pot wet-chemical method followed by an annealing treatment, which combined the advantages between flower-like hierarchical structure and porous single-crystalline structure. XRD, SEM and HRTEM were used to characterize the synthesized FHPSCZN samples. The sensing properties of the FHPSCZN sensor were also investigated by comparing with ZnO powder sensor, which exhibited higher response and shorter response and recovery times. The sensing mechanism of the FHPSCZN sensor has been further analyzed from the aspects of electronic transport and gas diffusion.