Hydrothermal synthesis of nanoparticles-assembled NiO microspheres and their sensing properties

Abstract Three hierarchical NiO microspheres were successfully fabricated via a facile hydrothermal method in the dissolvant of 1,2-Propanediol and H2O with a molar ratio of 1:1. The NiO microspheres were self-assembled by uniform nanoparticles and exhibited excellent gas-sensing performance. A possible nucleation-growth mechanism was also proposed in detail. It is believed that this unique nanostructure has great potential to enhance the gas-sensing properties of nickel oxide and other semiconductor materials.