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Single crystal SnO2 nanobelts (SnO2 NBs) and La-SnO2 nanobelts (La-SnO2 NBs) were synthesized by thermal evaporation. Both a single SnO2 NB sensor and a single La-SnO2 NB sensor were developed and their sensing properties were investigated. It is found that the single La-SnO2 NB sensor had a high sensitivity of 8.76 to ethanediol at a concentration of 100 ppm at 230 °C, which is the highest sensitivity of a single SnO2 NB to ethanediol among three kinds of volatile organic (VOC) liquids studied, including ethanediol, ethanol, and acetone. The La-SnO2 NBs sensor also exhibits a high sensitivity, good selectivity and long-term stability with prompt response time to ethanediol. The mechanism behind the enhanced sensing performance of La-doped SnO2 nanobelts is discussed.