A VO2(B) ultrathin vertical nanosheet array was prepared
by the hydrothermal method. The influence of the concentration of
oxalic acid on the crystal structure and room-temperature NO2 sensing performance was studied. The morphology and crystal structure
of the nanosheets were characterized by scanning electron microscopy,
transmission electron microscopy, and X-ray diffraction. Room-temperature
gas sensing measurements of this structure to NO2 with
a concentration span from 0.5 to 5 ppm were carried out. The experimental
results showed that the thickness of the vertical VO2(B)
nanosheet was lower than 20 nm and close to the 2 times Debye length
of VO2(B). The response of the sensor based on this structure
to 5 ppm NO2 was up to 2.03, and the detection limit was
20 ppb. Its high response performance was due to the fact that the
target gas could completely control the entire conductive path by
forming depletion layers on the surface of VO2(B) nanosheets.
Density functional theory was used to analyze the adsorption of NO2 on the VO2(B) surface. It is found that the band
gap of VO2(B) becomes narrower and the Fermi level moves
to the valence band after NO2 adsorption, and the density
of states near the Fermi level increases significantly. This ultrathin
vertical nanosheet array structure can make VO2(B) detect
NO2 with high sensitivity at room temperature and therefore
has potential applications in the field of low-power-consumption gas
sensors.