Despite potential advantages of metal oxide semiconductors (MOSs)-based gas sensors, the limitation of very high baseline resistance is still unsatisfactory for practical application. By means of element doping, the performance of metal oxide materials used as gas sensors can be optimized. Herein, different cations (Al3+, Sn4+, and Sb5+) doped ZnO nanoparticles were synthesized and used as the acetone sensing materials. Results show that the resistance of sensors based on Sn4+ doped ZnO was significantly reduced (from 5.18 to 0.28 MΩ) at 270 °C without sacrificing the acetone sensing responses. In addition, the gas sensor also exhibited the fast response/recovery time (1/10 s) and great long-term stability. The electron compensation and improved adsorbing oxygen ability for the Sn4+ doped ZnO nanoparticles contributed to the relatively low resistance and enhanced acetone sensing performances.
