Controllable Construction of Znfe2o4-Based Micro-Nano Heterostructure for the Rapid Detection and Degradation of Vocs

Micro-nano heterogeneous oxides have received extensive attention due to their distinctive physicochemical properties. However, it is a challenge to prepare hierarchical structured metal oxide nanomaterials with abundant heterogeneous interfaces in a controllable way. In this work, the effective construction of the heterogeneous structure of the material is achieved by regulating the ratio of metal salts under thermal solvent condition. Three-dimensional spheres (ZnFe2O4) constructed by zero-dimensional ultra-small nanoparticles, in particular three-dimensional hollow sea urchin spheres (ZnO/ZnFe2O4) constructed by one-dimensional nanorods and three-dimensional hydrangeas (α-Fe2O3/ZnFe2O4) assembled by two-dimensional nanosheets were obtained. The two composite materials contain a large number of heterojunctions, which enhances the material's sensitivity to volatile organic compounds (VOC) gas. Among them, the α-Fe2O3/ZnFe2O4 composite shows the best sensing performance for VOCs. For example, Its response to 100 ppm acetone reaches 142 at of 170 °C with the response time shortened to 3 s and the detection limit falling to 10 ppb. Meanwhile, the composite material presents a degradation rate of more than 90% for VOCs at a flow rate of 20mL/min at 170 °C. In addition, the sensing and sensitivity mechanism of the composite material are studied in detail by combining GC-MS, XPS with UV diffuse reflectance tests