Construction of efficient TEA gas sensor based on zinc vanadate for ppb-level detection

Vanadium-based binary metal oxides have been widely studied and applied in the field of photocatalysis, but there are few researches on gas sensors based on vanadium-based binary metal oxides. In this work, zinc vanadate (ZnV2O6, Zn2V2O7) and their heterojunctions were prepared by a one-step solvothermal method. The composition of sensitive materials was controlled by different annealing temperatures, and the gas sensing performance of materials with different compositions was systematically studied. The results showed that the sensors based on ZnV2O6 sensitive materials have the best gas sensing performance. The highest response to 100 ppm triethylamine (TEA) is 9.3 at a relatively low working temperature of 200 °C. Moreover, the sensor possesses good repeatability, long-term stability as well as a low limit of detection (LOD, 0.5 ppm). The excellent gas sensing performance can be attributed to the high proportion of oxygen vacancies that can increase the adsorption and reaction sites, as well as the well-permeable and evenly distributed microstructure. This study can provide a reliable research protocol for the study of TEA sensors.