Molybdenum ditelluride nanostructures for enhanced room temperature n-butanol detection

N-butanol, which is a flammable and poisonous liquid, poses a significant threat to humans and property. It is essential to track n-butanol concentration in the surrounding environment. The urgent need for efficient detection of such toxic gasses has driven the research of various gas sensors. Molybdenum ditelluride (MoTe₂) has huge potential for gas detection; however, it has rarely been explored for room temperature sensing. In this work, we report MoTe₂ nanostructures synthesized using a hydrothermal method for room temperature n-butanol sensing for the first time. Morphology significantly contributes to improving the availability of reactive sites, which enhances sensitivity. The synthesized MoTe₂ nanostructures showed flake-like morphology, providing a large surface area for efficient gas adsorption. Highly sensitive gas sensors based on MoTe₂ were fabricated and tested for sensing at different n-butanol concentrations at room temperature. The sensor showed excellent sensing performance ( \(\Delta \) $\mathrm{\Delta }$ R/R_air%) for 20 ppm n-butanol around 93%, with good response and recovery time indicating the potential use of MoTe₂ for room temperature n-butanol sensing.