Trace detection of carbon monoxide by AACVD of Ni-doped ZnO nanosheets

Cardiovascular disease, as the world's highest mortality disease category, is prone to acute myocardial infarction and stroke, posing a serious threat to human health. In recent years, breath analysis technology, with its significant advantages of being non-invasive, easy to operate, cost-effective, and portable, has emerged as a research hotspot and frontier in the field of early warning and diagnosis of cardiovascular diseases by detecting the concentration of CO, a hallmark gas of cardiovascular diseases. Among various detection methods, metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) sensors have demonstrated significant development potential in breath analysis applications due to their comprehensive advantages, including high sensitivity, rapid response characteristics, excellent environmental adaptability, and cost-effectiveness, gradually establishing themselves as the most promising technical solution in this field. In this study, we successfully developed a high-performance CO sensor based on nickel-doped zinc oxide (Ni-ZnO) nanosheets using the aerosol-assisted chemical vapor deposition (AACVD) technique. By optimizing the nickel doping ratio and the nanosheet structure, the sensor achieved a detection limit as low as 5 ppb for CO, while its response to 100 ppm of CO was more than 20 times higher than 100 ppm of other gases, demonstrating excellent selectivity. Therefore, CO sensors based on Ni-doped ZnO provide important technical support for the prevention and early diagnosis of cardiovascular diseases.