The adsorptions of toxic gases including NO 2 , HCN, HCHO and CO molecules on the pristine and amine functionalized (5,0) single-wall boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) are investigated based on self-consistent charge density functional tight-binding (SCC-DFTB) method. The calculated results indicate that the pristine (5,0) BNNT exhibits weak adsorption for the gas molecules. Based on the calculated adsorption energy, interaction distances and charge transfer, amine functionalization at a boron atom of the pristine (5,0) BNNT enhances the sensitivity of the pristine (5,0) BNNT toward the gas molecules. The electronic densities of state results reveal that new local states in the vicinity of Fermi level for adsorption between amine functionalized BNNT and the gas molecules significantly appear. This confirms the improved sensitivity of the pristine (5,0) BNNT functionalized with amine for adsorption of the toxic gases. This study is expected to provide a useful guidance on gas sensing application of pristine and amine functionalized BNNTs for detection of the toxic gases at room temperature. [3,31]. Also, previous theoretical studies showed that the interaction between gas molecules and BNNTs doped with metals at boron atoms was stronger than N atom of the nanotubes [3,32].Covalent/noncovalent functionalization on BNNT surfaces can improve the electronic properties of BNNTs for gas sensor applications [22,[33][34][35]. The previous studies reported that the band structures of BNNTs may be changed by chemical functionalization [36,37]. To the best of our knowledge, the reports about BNNTs functionalized with amine groups (NH 2 ) for adsorption of toxic gases are less available. Based on these motivations, we thus present the study of sensor performances of pristine (5,0) single-walled BNNT (pristine (5,0) BNNT) and amine functionalized (5,0) single-walled BNNT (NH 2 -(5,0) BNNT) for adsorption of important dangerous NO 2 , HCN, HCHO and CO gases using self-consistent charge density functional tight-binding (SCC-DFTB) method including van der Waals dispersion corrections. These gas molecules are chosen because they are the most common air pollutants that usually cause harm to human health and ecosystem. The air pollutions are generated from car engines, factories, power plants, human activity and natural processes [38,39], i.e., typical internal car combustion engine produces high concentrations of CO when fuels burn incompletely. Internal combustion engines and the use of gas stoves for cooking also produce NO 2 . The HCN is released from combustion of organic matter, building fires, cigarettes or car exhaust fumes while HCHO is found from furniture, cosmetics, cleaning products, glues, paints as well as contaminants in seafood [40]. Therefore, new sensing materials for detection of these air pollutions are still important. The results of this study are attributed to provide useful information and guidance for gas sensor designs in future experiments.
Calculation methodThe SCC-DFTB method is based on a second-order ex...