Facet controlled polyhedral ZIF-8 MOF nanostructures for excellent NO2 gas-sensing applications

[Display omitted] •Synthesis of unique polyhedral ZIF-8 nanostructures by a via a solvothermal method.•High specific surface area, porosity and bimetallic ions sustenance with wide exposed surface nanostructures.•The ZIF-8 MOF based sensor exhibits high selectivity and response towards oxidizing NO2 gas. The existence and detection of toxic and greenhouse gases at relatively low concentrations play an important role in protecting human beings exposures from intensive gases. To overcome this issue, it is essential to devise gas-sensing devices based on ultrafine-structured nanomaterials. The versatile zeolite imidazolate-based metal-organic frameworks (ZIF-MOF) are effectively synthesized using solvothermal method for superior gas sensing applications. Compared with other target gases measured at wide range of temperatures (50–350 °C) and 10–100 ppm with different gas concentrations, the fabricated gas sensors demonstrate fast response and recovery times (113.5, 111.5 s), strong sensing sensitivity (118.5) and selectivity against NO2 gas at 350 °C. Simultaneously, the polyhedral based MOF gas sensors are considered potential applicants in the development of the NO2 gas sensor industry. This research expands on new insight for high porosity metal-organic frameworks in the industrial environment applications of gas-sensors.