ZnO Nanorod-Immobilized Pt Single-Atoms as an Ultrasensitive Sensor for Triethylamine Detection

Triethylamine (TEA) is a flammable and highly toxic gas, and the fast, accurate, and sensitive detection of gas TEA remains greatly challenging. Herein, we report a ZnO nanorod anchored with a single-atom Pt catalyst (Pt1/ZnO) as a gas sensor for TEA detection. The sensor shows high selectivity and high response to gas TEA with a response value of 4170 at 200 °C, which is 92 times higher than that of pure ZnO. Moreover, the Pt1/ZnO sensor has very short response and recovery times of only 34 and 76 s, respectively, and also has a high response to ppb-level TEA gas (100 ppb-21.6). The gas-sensing enhancement mechanism of the Pt1/ZnO sensor to gas TEA was systematically investigated using band structure analysis, in situ diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transformation spectroscopy, and density functional theory calculations. The results show that the oxygen vacancies on Pt1/ZnO can effectively activate the adsorbed oxygen. Moreover, chemical bonds can be formed between Pt single atoms and N atoms in TEA to achieve effective adsorption and activation of TEA molecules, facilitating the reaction between TEA and the adsorbed oxygen on Pt1/ZnO, and thereby obtaining high gas-sensing performance. This work highlights the crucial role of Pt single-atom in improving the sensing performance for gas TEA detection, paving the way for developing more advanced gas sensors.