Growth of flower-like BiOCl on 3D honeycomb-like N-doped graphitic carbon for greatly enhanced NO gas sensing performance at room temperature

Abstract

A facile polymer heat treatment and reflux method are used for developing growth of flower-like BiOCl (BiOCl NFs) on 3D honeycomb-like N-doped graphitic carbon (N-GC) to form BiOCl/N-GC composites. The N-GC hierarchical structure effectively heightened the dispersion of BiOCl NFs, which increased the contacted area for the NO x gas molecule. Benefiting from the hierarchical structure, the (102) plane of BiOCl has a suitable adsorption energy for NO x , synergistic effect of large specific surface area and mesopores of N-GC, the formation of p-p heterojunctions, Bi–C interfacial bond, N-doping and the role of chemisorbed oxygen. The BiOCl/N-GC composites have satisfactory response and selectivity for NO x gas at room temperature. It reveals an exceptionally excellent response and response time of 52.54 and 3.2 s for NO x gas. It also exhibits a low detection limit (10 ppb) and a long-stability of 12 weeks. Thus, the BiOCl/N-GC nanocomposites are one of the most potential materials in gas sensor. • N-GC with high specific surface area was obtained via by a simple polymer heat treatment approach. • DFT was used to calculate the NO x adsorption energy of flower-like BiOCl at room temperature. • The mesoporous structure of BiOCl/N-GC composites significantly improved the performance of gas sensor. • BiOCl/N-GC sensor presents high sensitivity (52.54), fast response and recovery time (2.3/58.13 s) to 100 ppm NO x .