Growth of flower-like BiOCl on 3D honeycomb-like N-doped graphitic carbon for greatly enhanced NOx gas sensing performance at room temperature

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 NOx gas molecule. Benefiting from the hierarchical structure, the (102) plane of BiOCl has a suitable adsorption energy for NOx, 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 NOx gas at room temperature. It reveals an exceptionally excellent response and response time of 52.54 and 3.2 s for NOx 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.