Work

Low-Temperature Ethanol Gas Sensor Based on MoO3/Nb2C MXene Composite via Crystal Engineering and Facet Release

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: High-performance ethanol sensors with low power consumption show critical applications in environmental monitoring, personal health diagnosis, industry and traffic safety. Herein, MoO3/Nb2C MXene heterojunction gas-sensing materials were constructed via a one-step hydrothermal method for MoO3 nanotube synthesis. The dominant facets of MoO3 were shifted from the (040) orientation in MoO3 nanotubes to the (110) and (021) orientations in the MoO3/Nb2C MXene composite. Nb2C nanosheets provide a large number of crystallization sites, preventing the growth of MoO3 nanotubes during synthesis, inducing a strategic facet release. The sensing performance shows MoO3/Nb2C MXene composite reduces the operating temperature down to 120 °C. The 15 wt% Nb2C MXene-precursor-mixed MoO3 sensor exhibits an enhanced response of 6.1 toward 100 ppm ethanol, which is higher than that of pristine MoO3 nanotubes at 120 °C, with response and recovery times of 19 s and 72 s, respectively. The sensors show high selectivity toward ethanol over other VOC gases and good long-term stability over 30 days. This work confirms that crystal engineering is an effective method for reducing operating temperature and enhancing gas-sensing performance, and the sensor shows potential application for ethanol sensing.

Source: Sensors

DOI: 10.3390/s26113450

Authors: Baohui Zhang, Haoyu Zhou, Xiaowu Zhu, Haoxiang Chen, Yang Yang

Institutions: Dongguan University of Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, State Key Laboratory of Electronic Thin Films and Integrated Devices

Language: English

Topic: Gas Sensing Nanomaterials and Sensors

Subfield: Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDG: Affordable and clean energy

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $3,137