ZnO is often used as gas sensor. In order to increase the sensitivity of the sensors, many methods are used to change the gas-sensing properties. In this paper, ZnO was synthesized by hydrothermal method using Zn (NO 3 ) 2 as a zinc source. Sodium lauryl sulfate (SDS) and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) were added into the system to control microstructure and surface morphology of ZnO nanoparticles. The SDS was kept constant, and the PVP was changed. The morphology and composite were investigated by field emission scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction.The chemical valence of the elements was determined by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The sensing properties were investigated at different PVP components. It is found that ZnO has a red zinc structure. When the m SDS :m PVP = 1:1, the sensing sensitivity is best. The mechanism of equivalent matching structure optimization performance is proposed. K E Y W O R D S equivalent matching structure, gas sensor, nanoscale soft template, polyvinylpyrrolidone, sodium lauryl sulfate F I G U R E 3 XPS of: (A) Zn 2p spectra and (B) O 1s spectra of S 1 , S 2 , and S 3 [Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com] F I G U R E 4 Optimal operating temperature of three sets of annealing samples. (A) Sensitivity vs operating temperature at 100 ppm ethanol atmosphere. (B) Sensitivity comparison of ethanol, ammonia, formaldehyde, methanol, and benzene. (C) Comparison curves of sensitivity and concentration [Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com] | 1465 CHEN Et al.the ZnO nanoparticles are easy to gather in the SDS-PVP soft template. XRD and XPS indicate that the SDS and PVP addition will not affect the crystal structure. The experiments show that the sensitivity and selectivity of ZnO increase when m SDS :m PVP = 1:1. This research provides more potential ideas for other metal oxides as gas sensor. ORCID Chengyou Liuhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-4363-6354