Novel Bi-doped ZnFe2O4 nanofibers based gas sensor for enhanced n-butanol sensing

•The majority of studies on the gas sensing behaviors of ZnFe2O4 pertain to undoped ZnFe2O4.•Bi doped ZnFe2O4 composite nanofibers were successfully fabricated via electrospinning.•Bi doping significantly enhances the sensing properties of ZnFe2O4 to n-butanol.•The response of sensors based on bi doped ZnFe2O4 nanofibers exhibit excellent sensing properties to 100 ppm n-butanol. Developing high-performance n-butanol gas sensors is of great significance for environmental protection and human health. The Bi-doped ZnFe2O4 nanofibers exhibit promising potential as a viable option for n-butanol sensors. In this study, a series of high response and fast response n-butanol gas sensors were successfully fabricated by Bi-doped ZnFe2O4 nanofibers with different atomic percentages (0 %, 1 %, 3 %, 5 %), which were synthesized by a facile electrospinning method. The nanofibers with a Bi/Zn molar ratio of 3 % showed a response value of 23.6 to 100 ppm n-butanol at 175 °C, which was 2.4 times higher than that of the pure ZnFe2O4 nanofibers, and with a lower concentration detection limit (1.5 for 100 ppb n-butanol). In addition, the gas sensing materials had a good selectivity and long-term stability to n-butanol, and the mechanism of the good sensing performance of Bi doped ZnFe2O4 nanofibers for n-butanol is also analyzed in this paper. The transmission electron microscopy (TEM) image of Bi-doped ZnFe2O4 nanofibers, along with the optimized doping ratio (Bi/Zn = 3at %), synergistically enhance the gas sensing performance towards n-butanol. Moreover, these gas sensing materials exhibit excellent selectivity and long-term stability specifically for n-butanol. [Display omitted]