In view of the low sensitivity, high operating temperature and poor selectivity of acetone measurements, in this paper much effort has been paid to improve the performance of acetone sensors from three aspects: increasing the surface area of the material, improving the surface activity and enhancing gas diffusion. A hierarchical flower-like Pt-doped (1 wt %) 3D porous SnO₂ (3DPS) material was synthesized by a one-step hydrothermal method. The micropores of the material were constructed by subsequent annealing. The results of the experiments show that the 3DPS-based sensor's response is strongly dependent on temperature, exhibiting a mountain-like response curve. The maximum sensor sensitivity (R_a/R_g) was found to be as high as 505.7 at a heating temperature of 153 °C and with an exposure to 100 ppm acetone. Additionally, at 153 °C, the sensor still had a response of 2.1 when exposed to 50 ppb acetone gas. The 3DPS-based sensor also has an excellent selectivity for acetone detection. The high sensitivity can be explained by the increase in the specific surface area brought about by the hierarchical flower-like structure, the enhanced surface activity of the noble metal nanoparticles, and the rapid diffusion of free-gas and adsorbed gas molecules caused by the multiple channels of the microporous structure.

Detecting xylene gas is an important means of avoiding human harm from gas poisoning. A precise measurement demands that the gas sensor used must have high sensitivity, high selectivity, and low working temperature. To meet these requirements, in this study, Sn²⁺-doped NiO flower-like microspheres (SNM) with different amounts of Sn²⁺ synthesized by a one-step hydrothermal process were investigated. The responses of gas sensors based on different Sn²⁺-doped NiO materials for various targeting gases were fully characterized. It was found that all of the synthesized materials exhibited the best gas response at a working temperature of 180 degrees, which was much lower than the previously reported working temperature range of 300–500 degrees. When exposed to 10 ppm xylene, the 8 at% Sn²⁺-doped NiO sensor (mol ratio) exhibited the highest response, with a value of 30 (R_g/R_a). More significantly, the detection limit of the 8 at% Sn²⁺-doped NiO sensor for xylene is down in the ppb level. The Sn²⁺-doped NiO material also exhibits excellent selectivity for other gases with long-term stability and repeatability. The significant improvement in the response to xylene can theoretically be attributed to a decrease in the intrinsic hole carrier concentration, higher amounts of adsorbed oxygen and active sites.