Facile hydrothermal synthesis of NiCo2O4 nanocomposites for n-butanol gas detection at low-working temperature

The need for more efficient detection of toxic gas has driven the research and development of gas sensors. In this study, a NiCo2O4 nanocomposite gas sensor for n-butanol is synthesized by a hydrothermal route. Hydrothermally synthesized NiCo2O4 nanocomposites were characterized by analyzing their crystal structure, phase purity, morphology, and elemental and chemical composition using a wide range of state-of-the-art techniques. Compared to competing materials, the gas sensing properties of NiCo2O4 are improved by the influence of Ni with a 2:1 ratio on the crystal structure. At 303 K, the n-butanol measurement showed a sensitivity of around (250%) and a selectivity of to 50 ppm. Both the reaction and recovery times are very fast (65 and 108 s, respectively), and the stability over time is superb. As a result, NiCo2O4 is appealing as a sensor material for detecting n-butanol gas at low concentrations. Furthermore, the strategies for enhancing the detecting performance of NiCo2O4-based gas sensors are introduced.