Abstract: A simple method has been developed for the synthesis of homogeneous nickel oxide nanobox by using cuprous oxide as hard template.During the synthesis process，well-dispersed cuprous oxide blocks were firstly prepared by chemical method.Then nickel hydroxide nanobox was prepared through ‘synergistic erosion’ method with nickel chloride hexahydrate as the metal source.Finally，nickel oxide nanobox was obtained through heat treatment.The characterization of transmission electron microscope（TEM） and wide-angle X-ray diffraction proved that the as-prepared product was hollow nickel oxide material.The gas sensor was prepared by simply painting the as-synthesized nickel oxide nanobox on an indirectly heated gas sensitive element，and its n-butanol gas-sensing properties were determined.Results showed that this kind of material had a fine sensitivity to n-butanol under 250 ℃，which indicated that it′s a very promising functional material，and was expected to be widely used.

Key words: nickel oxide, nanobox, gas-sensing material, n-butanol