A ZnO nanoflower hybrid material loaded with NiO nanoparticles was presented,and then it was investigated in XRD, morphology and gas sensing properties.The results show that surface loaded NiO nanoparticles modulated the electric channel of ZnO nanoflowers.The response value of heterojunction gas sensing material with optimized NiO loading amount to xylene is increased by 3.3 times compared with that of pristine ZnO.In addition,the selectivity of the sensor is enhanced and response time decreases.From a broader perspective,the methods for functionalized gas sensors of high?performance semiconductor metal oxide (SMOX) are proposed by introducing surface heterostructure.