Metal-Organic Framework Templated Synthesis of Ultrasmall Catalyst Loaded ZnO/ZnCo2O4 Hollow Spheres for Enhanced Gas Sensing Properties

Won-Tae Koo; Seon-Jin Choi; Ji-Soo Jang; Il-Doo Kim

doi:10.1038/srep45074

Metal-Organic Framework Templated Synthesis of Ultrasmall Catalyst Loaded ZnO/ZnCo₂O₄ Hollow Spheres for Enhanced Gas Sensing Properties

Sci Rep. 2017 Mar 22:7:45074. doi: 10.1038/srep45074.

Authors

Won-Tae Koo¹, Seon-Jin Choi^{1

2}, Ji-Soo Jang¹, Il-Doo Kim¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Materials Science and Engineering and Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon 305-701, Republic of Korea.
² Applied Science Research Institute, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon 305-701, Republic of Korea.

Abstract

To achieve the rational design of nanostructures for superior gas sensors, the ultrasmall nanoparticles (NPs) loaded on ternary metal oxide (TMO) hollow spheres (HS) were synthesized by using the polystyrene (PS) sphere template and bimetallic metal-organic framework (BM-MOFs) mold. The zinc and cobalt based zeolite imidazole frameworks (BM-ZIFs) encapsulating ultrasmall Pd NPs (2-3 nm) were assembled on PS spheres at room temperature. After calcination at 450 °C, these nanoscale Pd particles were effectively infiltrated on the surface of ZnO/ZnCo₂O₄ HSs. In addition, the heterojunctions of Pd-ZnO, Pd-ZnCo₂O₄, and ZnO-ZnCo₂O₄ were formed on each phase. The synthesized Pd-ZnO/ZnCo₂O₄ HSs exhibited extremely high selectivity toward acetone gas with notable sensitivity (S = 69% to 5 ppm at 250 °C). The results demonstrate that MOF driven ultrasmall catalyst loaded TMO HSs were highly effective platform for high performance chemical gas sensors.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't