Cobalt monosulfide nanofibers: ethanol sensing and magnetic properties

Abstract Metal sulfide nanomaterials have attracted great interest because of their excellent properties and promising applications in sensing, energy harvesting, magnetic and optoelectronic devices, especially their well-aligned crystalline nanostructures are highly desirable for the enhanced performance and novel applications. In this study, the cobalt monosulfide (CoS) nanofibers with uniform shape and good crystallinity were firstly obtained via electrospinning and atmospheric calcination routes under controllable conditions. It was found that the CoS nanofibers exhibited ethanol sensing properties at the optimum working temperature of 200 °C, the response was 11.6 toward 100 × 10 −6 ethanol gas, and the CoS nanofibers-based sensor exhibits a short response time and recovery time of 5 and 6 s at the optimum temperature, respectively, the result also shows that the sensor has good stability after 50 days, which would be a favorable characteristic as a promising sensor. In addition, the Pauli paramagnetic property of CoS nanofibers was also investigated at room temperature. Graphic abstract