Soft-template synthesis of mesoporous NiFe2O4 for highly sensitive acetone detection

The fabrication of mesoporous structures has emerged as an effective strategy to greatly improve the performance of gas sensor. In this study, mesoporous NiFe2O4 was prepared by a facile ligand-assisted self-assembly approach using P123 as a soft template combined with carboxylic ligand. The gas sensor based on the as-fabricated NiFe2O4 exhibits a higher response of 57 to 200 ppm acetone with fast response (44 s) and recovery (24 s) time at 210 °C. More importantly, the sensor also presents excellent selectivity and long-term stability. The enhanced gas sensing behavior could be attributed to the unique mesoporous NiFe2O4 with high surface area (91.4 m2/g) to provide abundant reactive sites and mesopores to promote gas molecular diffusion.