Reduced-temperature ethanol sensing characteristics of flower-like ZnO nanorods synthesized by a sonochemical method.

Flower-like ZnO nanorods with diameters less than 15 nm were synthesized by a sonochemical method. The sensors fabricated from the nanorods exhibited excellent ethanol sensing properties. At the working temperature of 300 °C, their sensitivity was 176.8-100 ppm ethanol vapour. While the working temperature was reduced to 140 °C, they were still able to detect ethanol vapour at the ppm level. The reduced working temperature may be attributed to the small sizes of the nanorods.