Can you provide more details. 'BIG DATA application" is a very broad definition.
nRF24L01 is a specific IC developed by Nordic Semiconductor and is now not suggested for new designs. It operates at 2.4 GHz on the ISM (industrial, scientific, medical) band with transmission rates up to 2 Mbps.
XBee is simply a general form factor of modules originally based on IEEE 802.15.4-2003, with transmission rates up to 250 kbps. The devices operate at different frequencies, 868 MHz, 900 MHz and 2.4 GHz. Maximum transmission rates now range from 80 kbps all the way up to 72 Mbps depending on the system.
As far as suitable sensors are concerned, what are you looking to sense?
nRF24L01+ could provide a better throughput compared to XBee in almost all scenarios especially in point-to-point communication where it outshines XBee by a country mile.