Synthesis of popcorn-shaped yeast@WO3 microspheres assisted by yeast cells and their potential application as an ethanolamine gas sensor

To obtain popcorn-shaped [email protected]3 (the yeast cells were used as bio-templates to synthesize WO3) microspheres, which are regular, porous, dispersed and uniform, low-cost yeast cells herein were employed as bio-templates during the synthesis of [email protected]3 via a facile hydrothermal route. The synthesized samples were verified by various characterization techniques including XRD, SEM, TEM and BET. The XRD results demonstrated the successful preparation of WO3 and [email protected]3 with a monoclinic phase. The SEM, TEM and BET measurement proved that the [email protected]3 microspheres possess their own popcorn-like morphologies whose surfaces are rough and porous. Forasmuch as these unique microstructures, the gas sensing performance of [email protected]3 powder was thoroughly investigated and the survey results revealed that the sensor based on popcorn-shaped [email protected]3 microspheres was very sensitive to ethanolamine among various volatile organic compounds (VOCs) at 180 ℃ as an optimum operating temperature. In addition, the sensor on the basis of the proposed [email protected]3 microspheres showed high response value, short response/recovery time, better repeatability and stability. Therefore, the popcorn-shaped [email protected]3 microspheres material was identified as an efficient and stable ethanolamine sensor and could be a promising ethanolamine gas sensor in the future.