Nickel antimony oxide (NiSb2O6): A fascinating nanostructured material for gas sensing application

Highlights: • Synthesis and characterization of nickel antimony oxide. • Fabrication of trirutile structured NiSb₂O₆ thin films. • The fabricated films display outstanding sensing performance towards LPG. • Significant advancement towards the development of a reliable LPG sensor. • Interaction mechanism of alkanes with deposited films. Fabrication of nanocrystalline NiSb₂O₆ thin films via sol–gel spin coating method towards the development of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) sensor operable at room temperature (25 °C) is being reported. Nanostructural, surface morphological and optical properties of trirutile-type NiSb₂O₆ have been investigated in order to explore the parameters of interest. The crystallite size has been found to be 19 nm. A detailed sensing performance (sensitivity, sensor response, response and recovery times, reproducibility and long term stability) of NiSb₂O₆ nanostructures grown on alumina substrate has been investigated.