Synthesis and formaldehyde sensing performance of LaFeO3 hollow nanospheres

• LaFeO3 hollow nanospheres have been successfully synthesized by using carbon spheres as templates.
• The method has the advantages of controllable fabrication, simple equipment, and short reaction time. Furthermore, this route can be employed for synthesizing other metal oxide hollow spheres.
• The mechanism for the formation of LaFeO3 hollow nanospheres was discussed based on the experimental results.
• The as-prepared LaFeO3 hollow nanospheres exhibited good sensing performance towards formaldehyde gas.
• LaFeO3 hollow nanospheres have been prepared by using carbon spheres as templates, which exhibited high response, good selectivity and stability to formaldehyde gas.

Metal oxide semiconductors with hollow structure and morphology have attracted considerable attentions because of their promising application on gas sensors. In this paper, LaFeO3 hollow nanospheres have been prepared by using carbon spheres as templates in combination with calcination. Based on the observation of X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscope (SEM), and transmission electron microscope (TEM), the structure and morphology of the products were characterized. It has been revealed that as-prepared LaFeO3 samples have a uniform diameter of around 300 nm and hollow structures with thin shells of about 30 nm consisting of numerous nanocrystals and nanopores. Owing to the hollow and porous structure, large surface area and more surface active sites, the sensor based on LaFeO3 hollow nanospheres exhibited high response, good selectivity and stability to formaldehyde gas (HCHO). It suggests that the as-prepared LaFeO3 hollow nanospheres are promising candidates for good performance formaldehyde sensor.

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