Unveiling the Electronic Interaction in ZnO/PtO/Pt Nanoarrays for Catalytic Detection of Triethylamine with Ultrahigh Sensitivity

Abstract

The detection of harmful volatile organic compounds is of great significance to environmental quality and human health. However, it still remains a challenge to achieve high detection sensitivity at a relatively low temperature. Herein, an ultrasensitive catalytic sensor for the detection of triethylamine (TEA) based on ZnO/ PtO/Pt nanoarray thin films was realized. Sensor measurements reveal that the PtO/Pt sensitizer dramatically reduces the working temperature from 195 °C of a pristine ZnO sensor to 125 °C of ZnO/PtO/Pt sensors. The ZnO/PtO/Pt sensors exhibit an extremely high response of 3513 to 50 ppm TEA, which is three orders of magnitude higher than that of pristine ZnO. Meanwhile, an ultralow limit of detection of 8.3 ppb is achieved. The outstanding performances are superior to those in most previous reports on TEA detection. Mechanistic investigations reveal that the outstanding performances are ascribed to the strong electronic interaction between PtO and ZnO and the catalytic spillover effect of Pt.

Heterogeneous Co3O4/Carbon Nanofibers for Low Temperature Triethylamine Detection: Mechanistic Insights by Operando DRIFTS and DFT

“…Generally these strategies include the design of specific nanostructures, [ 14,22 ] fabrication of heterostructures, [ 23–25 ] surface modification of MOS by catalysts, [ 26 ] and creation of atomic defects such as oxygen vacancy. [ 15,27 ] These approaches have been widely used to change or improve the electronic and chemical properties at the materials’ surface or interface, [ 14,28 ] and have led to a substantial amount of reports of improved TEA sensors. For example, Co 3 O 4 ‐based heterostructures have been fabricated to achieve improved TEA detection performances.…”

Rational design of ZnO@ZIF-8 nanoarrays for improved electrochemical detection of H2O2

“…In ZnO, the peaks of the core-level spectrum of Zn 2p at 1044.24 eV and 1021.09 eV are attributed to Zn 2p 1/2 and Zn 2p 3/2 . 11 For ZnO@ZIF-8, the peak for Zn 2p 3/2 is deconvoluted into two peaks, which belong to Zn–N (1021.46 eV) and Zn–O (1022.89 eV) respectively. 31 In Fig.…”

“…ZnO nanorod arrays were grown onto a glass substrate by a seed-assisted method following our previous work. 11 Firstly, ZnO seeds were deposited on the substrate. Typically, 40 μL 0.06 M zinc acetate solution was dropped onto 1 × 1 cm 2 ITO glass using a pipetting gun and dried at 80 °C.…”

“…7,9,10 These 3D nanoarray structures can greatly improve the adsorption, reaction and diffusion of molecules due to the abundant space between 1D building blocks, thereby exhibiting better sensing performance. 11…”

Bi-component MOF-derived high-sensitive triethylamine gas sensors based on MoO3/ZnMoO4/CoMoO4 hierarchical structures effectuated by tunable surface/interface transfer behavior

“…Metal oxide semiconductors (MOS) are believed as the important class of functional compound for detecting trace amounts of TEA in the complex environment [3]. Until now, a large number of MOS is based on SnO 2 , in 2 O 3 , ZnO, MoO 3 , and other oxides have been widely investigated and applied as TEA gas-sensing materials [4][5][6][7]. It is well known that MoO 3 -based micro-/nanostructures were paid extensive attention on monitoring and evaluating targeted TEA because of their unique chemical and physical properties for superior gas-sensing behavior.…”