Cobalt-doping-induced energy level and oxygen vacancy dual modulation in tin dioxide for efficient triethylamine detection

Highly sensitive triethylamine (TEA) gas sensors have undergone extensive research, yet slow response/recovery speed, poor moisture resistance, and high detection limitation limited their further application. Herein, pure SnO2 and Co-doped SnO2 nanofibers have been synthesized by a simple electrostatic spinning technique, and their sensing performance has been systematically analyzed. As a result, the sensors based on the 2 mol% Co-doped SnO2 nanofibers show a good response (Ra/Rg = 50.2) to 100 ppm TEA at 200 ℃. In addition, the 2 mol% Co-doped SnO2 based sensors display a rapid response and recovery speed, low limit of detection, superior anti-humidity property, and excellent reproducibility for TEA. The improved sensing performance owing to enhanced chemisorbed oxygen as a consequence of the Fermi level regulation and the abundant oxygen vacancies. All in all, 2 mol% Co-doped SnO2 nanofibers have the potential for efficient detection of low concentrations of TEA.