Short CommunicationNovel acetone sensing performance of La1-xSr xCoO3 nanoparticles at room temperature

•The La1-xSr xCoO3 nanoparticles are sensitivity to acetone at room temperature.•Doping Sr2+ can enhance the acetone sensing performance of LCO.•LCO system is a potential candidate for acetone detecting at room temperature.

La1-xSr xCoO3 (x = 0, 0.1) nanoparticles were synthesized by the simple sol-gel technique. Based on characteristics by scanning electron microscope, transmission electron microscope and X-ray diffractometer, the nanoparticles with the size distributed ranging from 40 to 80 nm all show a single phase with rhombohedral distortion perovskite structure. The sensors exhibit excellent acetone sensing performance at room temperature (∼25 °C), especially showing a nearly linear relation with the acetone concentration between 10 and 100 ppm. Sr2+ doping can bring holes in the p-type semiconductor, thus increasing the resistance variation range of LaCoO3 and enhancing the sensing performance. It suggests that the La1-xSr xCoO3 nanoparticles can be considered as a potential candidate for acetone detecting at room temperature.

Graphical abstractDownload high-res image (212KB)Download full-size image