Superior triethylamine-sensing properties based on SnO2 hollow nanospheres synthesized via one-step process

Due to serious harm of triethylamine (TEA) to environmental safety and human health, it is significant to synthesize gas-sensitive materials with high performance for TEA detection. However, it is still a challenge to achieve high-sensitivity detection of TEA at low temperature for a sensor synthesized through an economical and efficient method. In this work, hollow-structured SnO2 (HS-SnO2) nanospheres have been fabricated by a facile, low-cost hydrothermal method in one step, which exhibit superior TEA-sensing properties, including not only ultrahigh response (127.75) for 100 ​ppm TEA, good selectivity, but also fast response and recovery time (17/28 ​s), low detection threshold (1 ​ppm) and robust stability at a relatively low optimum operational temperature of 225 ​°C. The excellent gas-sensitizing performances are ascribed to porous hollow structures with rich oxygen vacancies that provide abundant active sites for raising O2 adsorption and reaction of TEA and oxygen species. This work offers an effective and economical strategy for fabricating high-performance TEA sensors for industrial applications.