A noval malonic acid assisted synthesized porous Fe2O3 microspheres for ultra-fast response and recovery toward triethylamine

Triethylamine (TEA) is extensively used in the industrial field and its concentration has a close connection with the freshness of seafood. Therefore, there are a tremendous potential security risk for TEA threatening the environmental safety and human health, so it is urgent for us to construct an ultra-fast rsponse/recovery TEA sensor. In this paper, the porous Fe2O3 microspheres were obtained by annealing of the precursors in air atmosphere. The macroscopic/microstructural characteristics of samples were elucidated by means of the comprehensive characterizations. The repeated sensing results manifested that the porous Fe2O3 microspheres based sensor has faster detectability (1 s/2.5 s to 50 ppm TEA at 270°C) than almost all TEA monitoring materials. The excellent gas sensing performance is mainly ascribed to the unique perforated structure of the microspheres, which can vastly shorten the testing time to ensure that relevant emergency measures can be launched in time. The sensor based on the Fe2O3 microspheres also exhibited excellent continuous test capability and long-term test stability. The thorough and reasonable TEA sensing mechanism is discussed in detail.