The n-butanol gas-sensing properties of monoclinic scheelite BiVO4 nanoplates

Monoclinic scheelite BiVO4 nanoplates have been prepared via a facile hydrothermal method with monoethanolamine as a surfactant. The obtained BiVO4 nanoplates were characterized by XRD, SEM, Raman microscope and N-2 adsorption-desorption analysis. The BiVO4 prepared with MEA is monoclinic scheelite plates which is composed of nanocrystallite with the average size of 100 nm. The sensors based on BiVO4 nanoplates show good sensitivity to alcohols gases, especially to n-butanol. The sensitivity to 100 ppm n-butanol gas is 61.6 at 260 degrees C, and the sensors exhibit low sensitivity to xylene, formaldehyde and toluene. The BiVO4 nanoplates could be a promising candidate for high selectivity and high sensitivity n-butanol gas-sening materials.