Pure and Ce doped ZnO hollow nanofibers have been synthesized via facile single capillary electrospinning, and characterized by XRD, XPS and SEM analysis. XRD studies indicate that the as-prepared samples are well crystallized and can be indexed to hexagonal wurtzite ZnO. XPS spectra show that the samples consist of Zn, O and Ce elements. Compared with pure sample, Ce doped ZnO nanofibers exhibit improved sensing performance to acetone at 260 degrees C. Especially, the sensor can detect acetone down to 5 ppm with obvious response (11.49). These results demonstrate that Ce doped ZnO hollow nanofibers can be used as the sensing material for fabricating high performance acetone sensors. The acetone sensing mechanism of Ce doped ZnO nanofibers is discussed too. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.