Biotemplate synthesis of a CoO microtube sensor for fast triethylamine detection.

A low operating temperature and short response/recovery time are essential factors for sensors. Hence, it is necessary to create a sensor that can quickly detect target gas at a relatively low temperature. In this work, CoO microtube based sensors were fabricated by a bio-template method using absorbent cotton. CoO microtube sensors prepared in different concentrations of a salt solution displayed different sensitivities to triethylamine (TEA). The CoO-0.10 microtube sensor exhibited excellent sensitivity to TEA at 160 °C. The response of the CoO-0.10 sensor to 100 ppm TEA gas was 31.27 and the detection limit of TEA was 50 ppb. Meanwhile, the CoO-0.10 sensor also showed a short response/recovery time, such as 95 s/38 s to 100 ppm TEA, high selectivity, a good linear relationship ( = 0.994 for 1-100 ppm TEA and = 0.991 for 50-1000 ppb TEA gas), fine repeatability and long-term stability, and strong humidity resistance. Thus, CoO microtube based sensors prepared using a bio-template method have potential application prospects for the detection of TEA gas.