Construction of p-n heterojunctions by modifying MOF-derived α-Fe2O3 with partially covered cobalt tungstate for high-performance ethyl acetate detection

•A simple solution method was used to obtain artificially covered PC-Fe2O3 semiconductor structures.•The CoWO4/Partially covered-Fe2O3-based sensor exhibited excellent ethyl acetate sensitivity performance.•The CoWO4/Partially covered-Fe2O3-based sensors show significant selectivity for ethyl acetate.•The discussion of the effect of ethyl acetate sensing performance caused by the formation of miniature p-n heterojunctions.