Preparation of ZnO nanorods by microemulsion synthesis and their application as a CO gas sensor

Zinc oxide nanorods with different surface area were synthesized by surfactant assisted microemulsion method. The alkyl chain length of surfactant would affect aspect ratio of ZnO nanorods. ZnO nanorods synthesized by ethyl benzene acid sodium salt (EBS), which is surfactant with short alkyl chain length, show higher aspect ratio than ones by dodecyl benzene sulfonic acid sodium salt (DBS). These nanorods had diameters in the range of 80–300 nm and length of up to several microns. The Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface area of the ZnO nanorods was strongly affected by the morphology of the nanorods. The BET surface area of the nanorods synthesized with EBS was higher than the surface area of the nanorods synthesized with DBS (20.2 and 14.1 m2/g for EBS and DBS, respectively). The response of ZnO nanorods to CO in air was strongly affected by surface area, defects and oxygen vacancies. The results demonstrate that the microemulsion synthesis is an easy and useful method to synthesize ZnO nanorods with large aspect ratio, which may enhance their gas sensing properties.