C-doped TiO2 nanoparticles to detect alcohols with different carbon chains and their sensing mechanism analysis

C-TiO2 nanoparticles with the diameter of 30 +/- 8 nm were prepared by using a facile template-free solvothermal method, in which the C was induced directly from the raw material itself. The sensor based on C-TiO2 showed excellent gas-sensing performance to alcohols at the optimal working temperature of 170 degrees C. Especially, the response increased with the carbon chain lengths increasing from C1 to C5. The response to 100 ppm n-pentanol was 11.12, which was 5.4 times higher than that of the pure anatase TiO2 Besides, the theoretical calculations, XPS, GC and GC-MS techniques were carried out to explore the gas-sensing mechanism of C-TiO2 to n-pentanol. The n-pentanol was speculated oxidization to aldehyde and decomposition into carbon dioxide and water eventually.