Ultra-fast response and recovery of triethylamine gas sensors using a MOF-based ZnO/ZnFe2O4 structures

Abstract Metal organic framework (MOF) based oxides have been widely considered as promising gas-sensing materials in the past few years. In this study, we employed a cost-efficient and simple co-precipitation method followed by annealing treatment to synthesize porous MOF-based ZnO/ZnFe 2 O 4 (ZZFO) structure by using prussian blue analogue as self-sacrificial templates. The ZZFO exists homogeneous morphology and physical dimension, and each structure is made up of abundant primary nanocrystallite. The as-fabricated ZZFO structures sensor shows excellent gas-sensing performance toward triethylamine (TEA), including fast response and recovery speed (∼1 s and ∼9 s to 100 ppm TEA), relative low operating temperature (170 °C), and alluring long-term stability. The results indicate that ZZFO sensor can be a promising candidate for fast and accurate detection of TEA in respects of the environmental monitoring and human health protection. Furthermore, the sensing properties and sensing mechanism have been investigated in detail.