Synthesis of Ni-doped α-MoO3 nanolamella and their improved gas sensing properties

Abstract In this work, α-MoO 3 and Ni-doped α-MoO 3 were synthesized through a facile solvothermal method and various techniques were employed to study the phase and morphological properties. The gas sensing measurements showed that 5 mol% Ni-doped α-MoO 3 had superior formaldehyde sensing capability compared with pure α-MoO 3 . The maximum response value approached 41–100 ppm formaldehyde at 255 °C, which was about 4.1 times bigger than that of pure α-MoO 3 . In addition, the 5 mol% Ni-doped α-MoO 3 gas sensor was also found to have lower detection limit and better selectivity to formaldehyde. The mechanism involved in gas sensing performance of Ni-doped α-MoO 3 was also discussed.