a b s t r a c tZnFe 2 O 4 nanoparticles with diameter of ca.10 nm were successfully synthesized under hydrothermal conditions without using any surfactant or structure-directing agents. The structure, composition and morphology of the samples were characterized by means of powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), field-emission scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), diffuse reflectance spectra (DRS) and the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area measurement. The results showed that the mole ratio of reactants ZnO to FeCl 3 played an important role in controlling the composition and morphology of the products. BET specific surface area of ZnFe 2 O 4 nanoparticles was evaluated to be 115.6 m 2 g −1 . Interestingly, as-prepared ZnFe 2 O 4 nanoparticles displayed enhanced gas sensing performance to acetone, which response value reached 39.5 for 200 ppm acetone gas at lower optimum working temperature of 200 • C, in comparison with the precursor ZnO (4.2) at the same condition. The gas sensing property demonstrates that as-prepared ZnFe 2 O 4 has potential applications in the detection of acetone.