Harnessing p‑type behaviour in V 2 O 5 nanostructures for advanced selective detection of volatile organic compounds

Nanomaterials made of vanadium pentoxide (V2O5) are important for environmental and industrial safety because they have a lot of potential as very sensitive sensors, especially for finding volatile organic compounds (VOCs). This work offers a comparative investigation of solvent-thermal and microwave-synthesised sol–gel spin-coated V2O5 nanostructure thin film sensor layers for room temperature VOC detection. The structural properties of V2O5 nanoparticles prepared by the two methods were studied using X-ray diffraction, while scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was employed to investigate film morphology. Amorphous V2O5 displays p‑type-like behaviour with greater sensitivity and selectivity towards IPA vapour due to its hydroxyl (OH−) group. The gas sensing response and recovery times for acetone vapour are 4 s and 2 s, for methanol vapours 6 s and 3 s, while for IPA 12 s and 2 s, respectively. These findings contribute the development of ultrafast, and highly selective and sensitive VOC sensor fo industrial applications.