ZnO Nanosheets Abundant in Oxygen Vacancies Derived from Metal-Organic Frameworks for ppb-Level Gas Sensing

Surmounting the inhomogeniety issue of gas sensors and realizing their reproducible ppb-level gas sensing are highly desirable for widespread deployments of sensors to build networks in applications of industrial safety and indoor/outdoor air quality monitoring. Herein, a strategy is proposed to substantially improve the surface homogeneity of sensing materials and gas sensing performance via chip-level pyrolysis of as-grown ZIF-L (ZIF stands for zeolitic imidazolate framework) films to porous and hierarchical zinc oxide (ZnO) nanosheets. A novel approach to generate adjustable oxygen vacancies is demonstrated, through which the electronic structure of sensing materials can be fine-tuned. Their presence is thoroughly verified by various techniques. The sensing results demonstrate that the resultant oxygen vacancy-abundant ZnO nanosheets exhibit significantly enhanced sensitivity and shortened response time toward ppb-level carbon monoxide (CO) and volatile organic compounds encompassing 1,3-butadiene, toluene, and tetrachloroethylene, which can be ascribed to several reasons including unpaired electrons, consequent bandgap narrowing, increased specific surface area, and hierarchical micro-mesoporous structures. This facile approach sheds light on the rational design of sensing materials via defect engineering, and can facilitate the mass production, commercialization, and large-scale deployments of sensors with controllable morphology and superior sensing performance targeted for ultratrace gas detection.