Synthesis of porous Co3O4 nanonetworks to detect toluene at low concentration

Abstract

Porous Co₃O₄ nanonetworks (NNWs), converted from precursor CoOOH nanosheets, have been synthesized via a controllable chemical reaction route followed by calcination at 400 °C in air. The morphologies and microstructures of the precursor nanosheets and the final products were characterized by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction, respectively. The growth mechanism of CoOOH nanosheets and the structural transformation processes of NNWs were investigated in detail. Significantly, the porous Co₃O₄ NNW based sensor showed an enhanced response to toluene gas at low concentration, which was mainly due to its porous neck-connected networks.