Au Modified Hollow Cube Sn‐MOF Derivatives for Highly Sensitive, Great Selective, and Stable Detection of n‐Butanol at Room Temperature

Abstract At present, there are still few gas sensors for detecting n‐butanol at room temperature. It is worth noting that detecting target gas at room temperature is beneficial to reduce energy consumption and prolong the lifetime of sensors. In this work, different molar ratios Au nanoparticles modified SnO₂ derived from Sn‐MOF hollow cubes (Au‐SnO₂) are synthesized by the coprecipitation method. The Au‐SnO₂ has higher specific surface area than pure SnO₂, which is conducive to improving gas sensing. The 0.7% Au‐SnO₂ exhibit excellent sensing performances of 240% toward 100 ppm n‐butanol and the actual detection interval is 200 ppb–500 ppm under the room temperature. Meanwhile, DFT calculations reveal that Au‐SnO₂ gas sensor has wonderful selectivity to n‐butanol at room temperature. The enhancement of n‐butanol sensing performance is also related to the “catalytic sensitization” effect and the “electron sensitization” effect triggered driven by Au NPs. It is hoped this Au‐SnO₂ sensing material with such great gas response, selectivity and low detection limit will help detect n‐butanol at room temperature to lower energy consumption.