Enhanced sensing properties of CuO nanosheets for volatile organic compounds detection

Two-dimensional CuO nanosheets with high uniform and stable structure morphology are synthesized by using a facile solution method combined with subsequent calcination. The volatile organic compounds (VOCs) sensing properties of the gas sensor fabricated from the leaflike CuO nanosheets are investigated. The results demonstrate that the CuO nanosheets sensor exhibits excellent sensing performances and only presents slight baseline drift towards acetone, ethanol, and methanol at 320 °C. The sensor exhibits linear response at low concentration range and deviates the line and saturates at high concentration range. The response and recovery time of the CuO nanosheets sensor are about several seconds. Compared with the sensor based on the one-dimensional CuO nanoparticles, the CuO nanosheets sensor shows enhanced responses and consistent selectivity to hydroxyl and carbonyl compounds (acetone, ethanol, and methanol), no matter at higher operating temperature of 320 °C or lower temperature of 170 °C. It is believed that the leaflike CuO nanosheets may be a promising candidate for VOCs sensing applications.